It is not easy to talk about Mandela. But not just because of the pain he suffered during his 27 years of prison. It is hard to talk about him also because he spread great ideals around the world. These ideals were tested one by one in thought and deed as they experienced ups, downs and changes.

Mandela had the courage to transform his struggle from an armed one in the 1960s to a peaceful one in the 1990s, while enduring the humiliating and illegal actions of his prison captors. And as he aged, he built the courage to adjust himself to calls of the time.

When he pursued the armed struggle, he gave his full and did not ignore the military lessons of other African countries. And when he pursued his dream non-violently, he engaged the government of the time through negotiations and talks with deep patience even as terrorist acts continued against the blacks.

Perhaps it was because of Mandela’s change in tactics that the conciliation and fact finding commission in South Africa emerged as the most shining forum where official crimes have been uncovered. The culture of forgiveness that dominated these commissions did not become the means for revenge but rather, turned into forums that examined the past of a nation that would ask itself how such crimes could have been committed.

A nation can respond to this question by issuing demands for retribution and charge lists, but Mandela and his colleagues in the fact finding and conciliation commissions chose a different path. Still, despite their approach, they never prevented the families of the victims from raising their charges and demands for the punishment of the perpetrators. In other words, while Mandela spread his conciliation culture and values, he never imposed or dictated his views on to others and never prevented anyone from pursuing their individual rights. The best example of this is in the indictment of the perpetrators who murdered Steve Biko, the 37-year old South African anti-apartheid hero who lost his life under torture a few months after his arrest in 1974.

Mandela is a timeless legend in the eyes of others, but in his own memoirs, he writes in most passionate terms that the biggest sorrow of his life was when he was deprived of being with his family and children during his prison days.

The soft-natured angel who accompanied Mandela from his youth till old age has now retired the book of life of a man who continues to have massive admirers because of the history of ebbs and flows of his struggles for justice.

What happened in those long prison years to Mandela is what happens to every political prisoner. He witnessed full deprivation, efforts to humiliate him, actions to persecute his family, to impose economic hardship and even the cancellation of his licence to practice law. But he continued to strive for his ideals, which in his earlier years were more like dreams.

So if Mandela can succeed in fulfilling his dreams and ideals, why can’t we?