Mandela.

It’s not impossible to devote a life to service… to love.  In your lifetime and in mine we have seen it.  We have seen humble beginnings create the most royal of hearts. In our lifetime we have seen love walk among us… not just in dusty books… we have seen love change the world.

~it only seems impossible until it’s done.

Apathy is a chain that pulls you down.  To turn your head from need instead of turning the other cheek from offense are bars to a prison you set yourself.  To think you can’t make a difference in the people around you is to lock the door.

~For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to life in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

The fear of failing at changing the world around you is not excuse… you have no excuse.   We have been shown examples… and these examples (save one) were not perfect… they were very flawed people.  They were people who knew that failing was not the end… but only the start of a journey which rises high above… with fists high they jumped higher.

~The greatest joy in living lies not in never failing… but in rising every time we fail.

~Do not judge me by my success’ but by how many times I fell down and got back up again.

We have lived in a world with world changers… I am raising world changers… and I take every opportunity to point the way that others have made.  We are living in a world where people have risen above… have been imprisoned for things they hold dear…. they have been imprisoned for things I hold dear…He holds dear. We live in a world where love can move mountains… and I jump at the opportunity to show my children that heros are not just the stuff of dusty books and flashy movies..

~Education is the most powerful weapon which we can change the world.

~And when we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

~

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Booklist for Nelson Mandela and South Africa…

Nelson Mandela

S is for South Africa

Nelson Mandela Long Walk to Freedom

Honey Honey Lion

Nelson Mandela’s favorite African folk tales.

and here is a Brainpop on Apartheid

*(Nelson Mandela quotes in bold)