Question: When Nelson Mandela passed away, the whole world started talking about how much he had done for humanity. This man spent 27 years in prison and did not change his views even under the pressure. He is counted among the ranks of the greatest people.

To what extent is such a person internally sincere?

Answer: Human nature is absolute egoism, shallow, and petty, even among so-called altruists and good citizens.

I think that Nelson Mandela did not spend all these years in prison in vain and that he realized what was happening in his country. His main task was the future of the country. He knew that if there would not be the right combination between different layers of the population and different races, it would be bad for everyone. Therefore, when he was released, he first engaged in balancing these parts of the population, and not by raising hatred of one against the other. This was his merit.

Having reasonably weighed all the pros and cons, he set a course for the unification of society. He did not allow a civil war to develop and hatred to plunge the country into all kinds of problems, provocations, and so on.

This was his great contribution and example for all humanity: it is necessary to rise above everything that was in the past, to cross out everything, and develop only together. I do not idealize his actions, but what happened is indeed rare.

The same had happened in Israel. This is a well-known story. When Israel was recognized as a state, the Arabs immediately invaded its territory. The Israelis had no weapons, one rifle for several people. And then the ship Altalena was sent to help with weapons and reinforcement.

But since there were two parties here, the socialist-communist and another, opposite to it, the party that was stronger then sank this ship with weapons right off the shore. As a result, several people died, but the rest were rescued.

This could have served as a justification for a civil war. But Menachem Begin, the leader of one of the parties, said: “No, we will not take revenge on anyone. We will leave everything as is and we will fight against the common enemy.”

There are such examples in history when a great leader takes a step above his I, above egoism, above taking revenge or putting himself on top.

Such people understand that it is necessary to act for the sake of the higher goal. But this is a rarity in history.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Death of Nelson Mandela”

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