Mandela, The Human Being - Part 4 of obama's memorial address
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And finally, Mandela understood the ties that bind the human spirit. There is a word in
South Africa — Ubuntu — (applause) — a word that captures Mandela’s greatest gift:
his recognition that we are all bound together in ways that are invisible to the eye; that
there is a oneness to humanity; that we achieve ourselves by sharing ourselves with others,
and caring for those around us.
We can never know how much of this sense was innate in him, or how much was shaped in a
dark and solitary cell. But we remember the gestures, large and small — introducing
his jailers as honored guests at his inauguration; taking a pitch in a Springbok uniform; turning
his family’s heartbreak into a call to confront ***/AIDS — that revealed the depth of his
empathy and his understanding. He not only embodied Ubuntu, he taught millions to find
that truth within themselves.
It took a man like Madiba to free not just the prisoner, but the jailer as well — (applause)
— to show that you must trust others so that they may trust you; to teach that reconciliation
is not a matter of ignoring a cruel past, but a means of confronting it with inclusion
and generosity and truth. He changed laws, but he also changed hearts.
