Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” 

In the day Nelson Mandela celebrates his 95th anniversary I want to talk about a special book..." Long Walk to Freedom" written secretly by himself while he was in-jailed for 27 years on Robben Island.

Nelson Mandela or Madiba, is an inspiration for me, and outstanding and brilliant human being, that I got to admire even more after I read his book "A Long Walk to Freedom".

I was born in South Africa during the period of the apartheid and still remember the turmoils of the transition period to a free country. I left to Portugal on that period, and  I still remember, years later, seeing in the news the historic moment when Madiba was released form his imprisonment in 1990. 

A part of me is South African and this book helped me not only to understand better these historic moments of my country but also the incredible story of the freedom fighter  and the political leader Nelson Mandela.

A "Long Walk to Freedom" is a magisterial autobiography that retrieves and re-creates brilliantly the memoirs and experiences of a epic life that shaped the destiny of a country and Nelson Mandela. The book is thought provoking and emotive, Mandela writes with simplicity and a certain eloquence and humility.

It is a fantastic story, deeply inspiring of a freedom fighter whether free or jailed in all aspects of his life. I was particularly fascinated by the way he talked about his background and family and all the sacrifices he had to go true to achieve his dreams and ambitions.

For me its unbelievable how Madiba was capable to get strengths throughout his strong sense of justice and equality in so many difficult moments he had in his life wether trying to dismantle apartheid or simply trying to get access to reading materials for the prisoners when jailed in Robben Island.

For me, Madiba is a hero, a man that was born to be a leader that put his life in the service of a greater good, in the name of a country that he loved and with the people who stole almost all from his life.

“A man who takes away another man’s freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else’s freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity…. For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”