Leaders Pay Respects

This is an article that had great value behind it. It came from the website aljazeera. The article is about the death of Nelson Mandela and its explanation of some of the world leaders coming to pay their respects to the iconic African. In this gathering of leaders a couple things occurred. This includes moments of promise, and moments of sadness. Of course people mourned the death of the icon that was in prison for twenty seven. According to Obama, Madiba (Mandela's clan name) was a persistent leader that triumphed through shrewd times and stood strong through everything. He was compared to Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi.
The glimmer that was promise gave Americans and Cubans a sense of relief when Barrack Obama shook Raul Castro's hand as he walked up to the podium with a huge smile on his face. The US and Cuba haven't been on the best of terms since the cold war conflict. This handshake represents a promising future together because they could come together and put all differences beside them to mourn an international icon. There were many moments of sadness considering it was a funeral, however something else came up. Jacob Zuma went up to the podium to make a speech and was booed the length of the speech. People cleared the stadium so they wouldn't hear him say his condolences to the fallen Nelson Mandela. Mandela was simply a man of peace and left all of his segregated thoughts behind him in jail.
A man who's life is as iconic as Mandela deserves major leaders present. Not only to mourn, but to take in what he did to change South Africa when he was president, when he was in prison, and when he was a free man. The story of one's life may change anyone whether the person be close or and icon like Mandela. Many are sad to see Mandela go, but even more feel influenced by his life and want to life in spite of him. I guarantee that every South African president from here will look at what Mandela did and make sure that they would attempt to meet his level of wisdom and diligence.