Reaction Paper About Nelson Mandela

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In a little village in South Africa called Mvezo, the child of a royal family grew up to be an icon, and outlier. His name was Nelson Mandela, now you may have heard this name before but you may not know his struggle to greatness, accomplishments, and great life story. Part of what shaped him into the person he became was running away from an arranged marriage to Johannesburg. This took him from a life in a little village to the big city of Johannesburg, in Johannesburg he saw the oppression of people and decided to get involved. This was only the start. Nelson Mandela is seen as many things to people, and due to his incredible work, he's seen in a positive light.
Before Mandela was jailed for 27 years, he was very active in politics. Mandela …show more content…

His time in jail gave him time to think, and that led to his extreme success. Imagine sitting in a confined jail cell for 27 years, what is there to do? For Mandela there was thinking to do, thinking about his past, what led him here, and how he can improve himself. He thought lots about his family and how he regrets running away and not thanking them for everything they had done for him. This caused him to think about how he should have shown more kindness to them, so now he is going to show more kindness to everyone(¨Oprah Talks To Nelson Mandela¨). This is the start of Mandela's philanthropy projects. He said, ¨If there is anything that will one day kill me, it will be the inability to help them. If I can spend a tiny part of my life making them happy, I'll be happy.¨ (¨Oprah Talks to Nelson Mandela¨). The amazing part is that he never felt bitter, he never resented the people who put him in jail, and he didn’t want any sort of revenge besides the revenge of him succeeding. BBC News talks about, ¨His charisma, self-deprecating sense of humour and lack of bitterness over his harsh treatment, as well as his amazing life story, partly explain his extraordinary global appeal.¨(“Nelson Mandela’s Life and …show more content…

While he was in jail he realized that he spent so much time working that he hadn’t had time for the things that matter most to him, family and helping other people. Therefore he began to get involved, he became president of the ANC, he replaced the apartheid regime, he supported and was involved in 26 charities, and supported 29 different causes. Yet that’s not all, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and the reason the apartheid regime was replaced was because it was replaced with Nelson Mandela, as South Africa’s first democratically elected president. Mandela said, "I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities," (¨Nelson Mandela's Life and Times¨). He succeeded at his life's goal, and accomplished many more amazing things on the way to

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