The Respected Legacy of Nelson Mandela

History has a habit of smoothing the rough edges and bringing out the positives when it comes to looking back on favorably viewed leaders. The passing of time tends to wipe away some of the negatives and bring out the best decisions and aspects of a leader’s character. They say time heals all wounds.

With Nelson Mandela, however, it seems every accolade he has acquired over the years has been earned through steadfast dedication to his beliefs, even in the face of the greatest opposition. For Mandela, the time has healed his wounds.

Mandela passed away last week at the age of 95, bringing an end to the storied life of one the world’s true great liberators. Once a militant anti-apartheid activist, he rose up as a unifying voice for freedom for a democratic South Africa.

Mandela was born in 1918 in Mvezo, South Africa, and as his education increased, so did his passion for justice for his countrymen. In his autobiography, Mandela wrote that his struggle for civil rights involved, “a steady accumulation of one thousand slights, one thousand indignities, one thousand unremembered moments, [that] produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that impoverished my people.”