Newfoundland and Labrador Honours Nelson Mandela

The Honourable Kathy Dunderdale, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, today expressed her condolences on the passing of Nelson Mandela.

“On behalf of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, I extend my deepest sympathies to the good people of South Africa and to the innumerable loved ones of the late Nelson Mandela – truly one of the greatest individuals the world has ever known. In character and legacy, he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with humanity’s greatest heroes – Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr. He had the courage of Daniel in the lions’ den; the wisdom of King Solomon. In mourning his passing, we sense how privileged we were to share his time and learn from his example what service and sacrifice truly mean. Having spent 27 years of his life in a prison of injustice, he emerged, not simmering in acrimony over decades irretrievably lost, but overflowing with forgiveness and focused wholeheartedly on redeeming the future for the benefit of all. Not only did he preach reconciliation, but he had the grace to live it – in fact, to live it so thoroughly that, even though his countrymen had endured suffering as brutal and dehumanizing as his, they were able find their liberty by following peaceably in his footsteps on his long walk from the shadows of oppression to the sunshine of freedom. All of humanity is ennobled by Nelson Mandela’s selfless example and eternally grateful to him for shouldering the mantle of moral leadership to the very end of his long life with such dignity and equanimity that we simply cannot imagine anyone doing it better. For all of us and for generations to come, he has raised the bar to the loftiest of heights and inspired all of us to cast our gaze higher and reach.”

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2013 12 06                                     10:05 a.m.