EULOGY: TUO?NG NIE^.M NELSON MANDELA -- DEATH OF A STATESMAN: THOUGHTS OF A VIETNAMESE

http://news.yahoo.com/nelson-mandela-dies-214057711.html
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DECEMBER 5, 2013: NEWS OF NELSON MANDELA'S DEATH

Why is Nelson Mandela called a statesman and not just a politician? Because he lived for his cause for which he was willing and prepared to die, yet he survived and the world changed due to him, yet it could not corrupt him with the empowerment it had to give him as a result of his willingness to die for that which he believed in. Statesmen act out of noblesse oblige, where politicians act so that they can become politicians. 

Life is worth living to fight for equality for all members of the human race, even if humans are not born equal. Why? Because it will take free humans standing equal to one another to better this world, whereupon these free and equal humans will continue to care for, not only one another, but also animals, trees, our environment and planet, not just for today or one day, but also for many, many days to come, so long as the human race continues to exist.     

If there is one lawyer who advocates breaking the law of the place (lex situs), yet that lawyer does not give the legal profession a bad name, it's got to be Nelson Mendela.  And, if there is one man who was known as a man of color but, at the time of his death, was no longer seen as a man of color, and, for the years to come, will be remembered as a man of color as well as THE MAN regardless of color, it's got to be Nelson Mendela. (The other one had to be Martin Luther King). 

(Harvard Law School gave him an honorary S.J.D. He graciously refused to accept, although he agreed to give the commencement speech, which he began with the best joke I've ever heard about pedigree. Sorry I've forgotten the joke due to my...old age!) 

And, on this occasion, think of those Vietnamese men who also fought for what they believed in and did not survive (in fact, many portrayed them as failures because they died).  The world never called them statesmen, but in our hearts they became statesmen in spirit, for they chose to die out of the same sense of noblesse oblige that characterized statesmen!  Khong thanh cong cung thanh nhan, one such young man had summarized it all for all of them, not too long ago in time, yet long enough to become history...

Our history!