“A conversation with himself, an inspiration for us.
This collection of letters, notes and fragments confirms Nelson Mandela as an icon for the age.”
So read the headline in the GLOBE published in the October 16, 2010 edition and written by an Isabel Nanton.
Anyone who has read his first book including myself entitled, “Long Road to Freedom” will likely be as impressed with this man and his new book entitled, “Conversations with Myself.” Although, I have not read it yet, I will certainly check it out.
His first book outlines and chronicles his incredible journey growing up in the dark period of apartheid to his eventual ascent to Prime Minister of South Africa. Now, as an icon for diplomacy, he has come out with his “inner most thoughts of the private man almost universally considered to be the world’s pre-eminent statesman.”
One example or excerpt includes a view “On human weakness.”
“You have to recognize that people are produced by the mud in the society in which you live and that therefore they are human beings. They have good points, they have got weak points. Your duty is to work with human beings as human beings, not because you think they are angels. And therefore, once you know that this man has this virtue and the has got this weakness, you work with them and you accommodate that weakness and you try and help them to overcome that weakness. I don’t want to be frightened by the fact that a person has made certain mistakes and has got human frailties. I can’t allow myself to be influenced by that.”
I look forward to reading more.
