"After becoming President of South Africa following 27 years in prison, Mandela asked some of his bodyguards to go for a walk... they went for lunch at a restaurant... Mandela noticed a man sitting alone just one table over. In Mandela’s words, “When he was served, I told one of my soldiers: go ask that man to join us... The man stood up, took the plate and sat next to me. While eating, his hands were constantly shaking and he didn’t lift his head from the food. When we finished, he waved at me without even looking at me. I shook his hand and walked away!” The soldier... was curious. What was wrong with that man? He must be very sick, since his hands wouldn’t stop shaking while he was eating... There is another reason... Mandela replied... “That man was the guardian of the jail I was locked up in. Often, after the torture I was subjected to, I screamed and cried for water and he came to humiliate me, he laughed at me and instead of giving me water he urinated on my head. He wasn’t sick, he was scared and shook, maybe fearing that I, now that I’m president of South Africa, would send him to jail and do the same thing he did with me, torturing and humiliating him. But that’s not me, that behavior is not part of my character nor my ethics. Minds that seek revenge destroy states, while those that seek reconciliation build Nations.′′ (From “EcheverrĂa MartĂnez ′′ Chicali Wall, by Nelson Mandela)"
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
RevolutionariesPolitical activistsNobel Peace Prize laureatesPresidents of South AfricaActivists from South Africa
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Quoted in Why Nelson Mandela Can Model Our Way Forward, by Bebe Nicholson, Medium.com (9 November 2020)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Related Quotes
"The true test of our devotion to freedom is just beginning. I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not…"
"But the violence which we chose to adopt was not terrorism. We who formed Umkhonto were all members of the African Na…"
"For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of…"
"I hate race discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations. I have fought it all during my life; I fight…"
"It is fit and proper to raise the question sharply, what is this rigid color-bar in the administration of justice? Wh…"
"In its proper meaning equality before the law means the right to participate in the making of the laws by which one i…"
"I must deal immediately and at some length with the question of violence. Some of the things so far told to the Court…"
"Ethiopia has always held a special place in my own imagination and the prospect of visiting attracted me more strongl…"
"There are thousands of people who feel that it is useless and futile for us to continue talking peace and non-violenc…"
"I have already mentioned that I was one of the persons who helped to form Umkhonto. I, and the others who started the…"