Nelson Mandela - A Torch Has Gone Out

I posted this on my LJ account yesterday afternoon as soon as I heard the news. I am reposting it today on my standard Blog as well as my DW accounts because I think it's important to think about this great man who has now left us. This is my post for today.

Some people shine with the flare of matches, a fast, hot and small illumination lighting those around them with a flame that quickly dies.

Others are candles, often ignited by the flare of those matches, but burning with a longer and brighter flame and casting a wider circle of influence, brightening the hearts of many more.

Occasionally among us are those rare human beings who bear the torches of hope for our world - those whose flame lights our world in ways that we will be discovering for years and decades and perhaps centuries. One of those torches has gone out today. The world is poorer because a great man has left us.

We will miss you, Nelson Mandela, but we are richer because of your constancy, your contributions and your immense courage. Thank you for having walked the brightest path and sharing our world.

Nelson Mandela 1918-2013