On January 10th of this year I embarked upon a task of herculean proportions, a feat that I knew would take me to the ends of the Earth, an intellectual journey riddled with risk, challenge, triumph and tragedy. My task: to finish all 751 pages of Long Walk to Freedom, the autobiography Nelson Mandela. For those to whom encyclopedia reading is a daily endeavor, I’m sure you’ll be tempted to chuckle at my overdramatic description of… a book. To me, however, this was a monumental life journey. I purchased Nelson in Stellenbosh, South Africa, on the forward edge of my travels to Uganda, Germany, Canada, and back again home to San Francisco. I chipped away at the tales of his adolescence, young adulthood, rise into leadership, imprisonment, and, at long last, freedom. He accompanied me across Africa, to meetings in Bonn, back to Africa, to home along the Embarcadero, through med school graduation, and through my relocation to Boston. On August 10th, a mere 8 months later, I gingerly closed the book’s back cover. I can’t help but share with you a bit of insight into Nelson’s life – quirks, faults, and intensely admirable attributes alike.

- Nelson liked to road trip. Me too! During his early legal career, after moving to Johannesburg, he takes a case in Orange Free State.. “with its flat dusty landscape as far as the eye can see, the great blue ceiling above, the endless stretches of yellow mealie fields.. When I am there I feel that nothing can shut me in, that my thoughts can roam as far and wide as the horizons.”
- Nelson pondered, as I have at times pondered, at what point do you begin to sacrifice your obligations to your family, in order to serve your country. After visiting his elderly mother in the countryside: “I wondered whether one was ever justified in neglecting the welfare of one’s family in order to fight for the welfare of others.” This is a very real question, with no real answer. Certainly, for the entirety of his adult life, in a traditional sense he was not a good father, nor a good husband. But he saved his nation. Would you make the same decision?
- Mr. Mandela considered sports to be an essential part of his life, as well as a means of providing social commentary. With regards to boxing: “Boxing is egalitarian. In the ring, rank, age, colour, and wealth are irrelevant. When you are circling your opponent, probing his strengths and weaknesses, you are not thinking about his colour or social status… I found the rigorous exercise to be an excellent outlet for tension and stress, after a strenuous workout, I felt both mentally and physically lighter…I would wake up the next morning feeling strong and refreshed, ready to take up the right again.”

Through reading this miraculous piece of literature, I am reminded once again that, far more important than what we are given, is what we do with it. Thank you, Mr. Mandela.