The out-pour of emotion after Nelson Mandela's death had to be expected, given the man's charisma, dignity and achievements. I certainly will refrain repeating what others do so much better. I just want to stand still and ask myself why we are so touched by a man who chose always to remain in control of his complexity in a world which is driven by over-simplifications and demagogic categorizing. The strength of Mandela was his refusal to explain, which would have amounted to banal normalization of the exceptional. He forgave and went on without acrimony or bitterness. He didn't have to rationalize and "do" talk-shows. He just had to be himself, leaving the "pleasures" of scrutiny and analysis to friends and foes alike.
Intuitively we know that for an unforeseeable future there will be no other. The void will remain and his record can be found in the black hole his demise has created. His legacy defies enumeration because it is less about quantifying what was accomplished than about an ethereal quality, which remained childless. World leaders look even smaller now, in comparison.
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