Mandela's Way

I don't often head to the well-being section of a bookstore, preferring the aisles of fiction, biographies and sale bins. I've often wondered why that is, and my reaction to finding this title on one of my favoured lists gave me some insight. I take advice seriously, both the giving and getting. For advice to be meaningful, I have to hold in awe, or at least respect, the person who is telling me what I should do or how I should be living my life. Good friends - both old and new - my husband, my siblings, my children and rarely someone in public life. After all, what do we know about each other and the multiple layers that define a life?

Mandela's Way. I found it in a web interview published by a book site I subscribe to. Amazingly, the 30 minute interview flew by and in the end, this made it onto my Must Read list. Richard Stengel is the editor of Time Magazine and shadowed, interviewed and became a confidante with Mandela over many years, both of them agreeing that the shape of this publication would be the subtitle "15 Lessons on Life, Love and Courage". Realizing I could learn something about Nelson, (not to mention what I could learn from him!), my latest trip to the bookstore was specifically for this title.

It did not disappoint. Giving bits of his life through anecdotes that teach, the man who can truly be defined as a hero of our age, tells us about what he learned through 27 years imprisoned on Robben's Island, the ending of Apartheid, the uniting of black and white, the development of democracy, distilled into 15 themes. The overarching characteristic that shines through this (advice) memoir is one of grace. And if Mandela can find grace at almost every point throughout his life, I definitely have something to learn from him!

It's an easy read, with obvious life lessons on leadership, friendship, the longevity of one's life no matter how short, the measurement of your reactions and your time, the myriad definitions of courage, and finding one's own garden. Who knew that his proudest personal achievement in those 27 years of isolation was providing the guards with organic vegetables?

This book has stayed with me in the minutiae of my daily living - reactions being measured against his thoughts and philosophy of living. After all, if Mandela can reach the twilight of his life, find love again at 80 and forgive who needs forgiving, my much smaller life can have similar qualities, on a much smaller scale.

There is something to be learned from this man, as he has shown the world time and time again.