Thank you, Madiba, and Happy Birthday

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, 

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, 

Or being hated don't give way to hating, 

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise; 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, 

Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch, 

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, 

If all men count with you, but none too much: 

If you can fill the unforgiving minute 

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, 

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, 

And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son.

Yesterday Madiba turned 92 - every extra day that we have him seems like a blessing, since he has lived such a long and difficult life. He is the first person that I think about when I read Rudyard Kipling's poem. It seems like there are very few people who measure up to this standard and Madiba certainly is a living example of many of the sentiments expressed in the poem.

Qunu in the Eastern Cape, Madiba's birthplace

I have been fortunate to meet Madiba on more than one occasion and a few things stand out. One is his ability to make you feel like you are the most important person in the world. We have been at a conference where Madiba has kept international delegates waiting because the kitchen staff have been lined up for ages to catch a glimpse of him and he has not wanted to disappoint them.

Another is his love for children. When he accepted the tribute that the World's Children's Prize had bestowed on him, his message to the children was that he would support them whether he was "alive or in the grave" and I have no doubt that that will indeed be so.

But one of his greatest gifts to us is his ability to forgive. His ability to sit down to tea or share podiums and stages with his former oppressors and jailers, is something that I, as an ordinary human being, find hard to conceive of. 

Since time immemorial, humans have searched for heroes. But the power of the hero is not as an idol that is unreachable or untouchable but as an inspiration to us to be the best that we can be, to raise us up. I hope that Madiba's spirit will be around to guide us for a long time yet.