Nelson Mandela Released from Hospital

South Africa’s former President, Nelson Mandela, age 92, was released from his hospital stay after an acute respiratory infection. Doctors say he is recovering well.

Mandela is beloved in South Africa and around the world as the hero who liberated South Africa from apartheid. Though he is no longer in public service, he is still revered as a living icon through his country. When he was hospitalized, rumors that he was going to die abounded, and the entire world was watching, as evidenced by the prominence of the story in the news.

I believe that the admiration that Mandela receives worldwide is deserved. He may not be perfect, and I don’t agree with all his approaches, but he is an example of a leader with a clear moral vision, who is not turned aside from his goal by the desire for power or from political and physical threats. He dedicated his life to fighting the system of injustice in South Africa, but once apartheid was ended, he did not hesitate to criticize his own party’s policies and abuses of power. In this world when morality is too often put into the service of political power, a truly principled and still effective leader is truly to be admired.

But I have mixed feelings about the attention that the world is giving to Mandela’s health. He is clearly aged and ailing, and long retired from public service. While the love he receives from his people is well deserved, speculation about his death seems out of place. The spokesman for the current President, Jacob Zuma, said that this speculation is “very un-African and very alien to the African culture”. The fact that the people are so anxious about his possible death may be a sign that they are not ready to move on. It should be time for South America to let go of the past and move into the future, and let their beloved hero live out his last days in peace.