Question

At the beginning of his speech, Mandela mentions an extraordinary human disaster. What does he mean by this? What is the glorious human achievement he speaks of at the end?

Answer 1

Hint: South African President Nelson Mandela's autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, was first published in 1994 by Little Brown & Co. The book chronicles his childhood, adolescence, schooling, and 27 years in prison. Mandela was labelled a terrorist by the apartheid government and imprisoned on the infamous Robben Island for his role as a leader of the then-illegal African National Congress.

Complete answer:
The highest military and police generals in South Africa hailed Mandela and vowed their allegiance. When the military generals saluted Mandela, he was aware that not long ago, they would not have saluted him, but would have imprisoned him. After three centuries of White domination, a new, non-racial government was created, and Mandela was elected President of South Africa.

Mandela had witnessed his men in arms risking and giving their lives for a cause. Mandela learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it, after witnessing these men and women withstand attacks and torture without breaking, demonstrating strength and endurance that defied the imagination. The bold guy is not the one who is fearless, but the one who overcomes it.

The 'extraordinary human calamity' highlighted by Mandela at the start of his address refers to apartheid, the inhumane practise of racial inequality faced by blacks in South Africa at the hands of whites. Finally, he mentions the establishment of South Africa's first democratic, non-racial government as a "glorious human achievement."

Note: Love, according to Mandela, comes more naturally to human hearts than hatred. Nobody is born disliking another person because of his or her skin colour, origin, or religion. People must learn to despise. They may be taught to hate if they can learn to hate, and they can also be taught to love since love comes easily to them.