The Inspirational Nelson Mandela

I would light your torch, I could carry your flame, if you had the chance, would you do the same? The high tide of Nelson Mandela's transcendent popularity. A force that swept not only over South Africa, but the world. You can be my friend or something else to me. And as we'll see, profoundly touched so many. There's no question that he's made me cry many times. But I wish that people would take a serious view of what he did politically. Especially solving crises between people who hate each other. The only way to go in a warring situation is to understand the other side and to work it out. Mandela's extraordinary capacity to touch humans across all boundaries of race and politics during the anti-apartheid struggle was closely followed over years by Robin Benger, a Canadian documentary producer raised in South Africa. As a youth, Benger was educated inside the deeply traditional white South Africa. One he grew to reject. Growing up in a very privileged situation in South Africa, the name Nelson Mandela had been erased entirely from the language of South Africa. I became fascinated. I mean, I was a two-sided person. I had that golden path ahead of me. But there was a huge emptiness about, you know, 70% of the population. A teenage Robin Benger would shock friends and family by defying authorities and attending anti-apartheid meetings with blacks. Arrested briefly, he knew he tasted only a small part of the oppression Mandela and followers survived. It nearly destroyed me. Very nearly destroyed me. And friends of mine who were put away for longer periods of time, God bless them, you know, never recovered. Apartheid determined inferior status to all non-whites. As a child, Zeb Jeeva, who had Asian roots, was also scarred by its segregation as his family was discriminated against. After fleeing to Canada, he became a leading free Mandela activist. A lot of people who suffered under apartheid, I mean, there must have been an internal scar or toll that is taken when you're discriminated against in that sense. You develop an inferiority complex. So whenever you went to any authority or anything of that sort, you know, you'd always, you know, not be comfortable in talking. And when you got something done, you'd be thankful that you got it done. I reported several times from South Africa during the struggle against apartheid and in the tumultuous years immediately after Mandela's historic release. When I finally got a rare chance to interview him, it was like meeting a mythical figure. One who had triumphed over long captivity to emerge as the most revered figure on earth. I was looking desperately, as you do, for some way to break the ice, something that would bring a human bond even for a very brief time between us. And I had remembered beforehand that Mandela was a boxer. Well, I happen to have been a boxing fan. And when he came in to be miked, I had to think of something. And I mentioned, you know, the days of Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott, Joey Giardello and Willie Pep and Sandy Sadler. And his eyes sort of started to light up and you'd even see the muscle memory of a former boxer sort of beginning to shift. Someone once wrote about that generation of boxers and used the term serenity. And boxers, because of the courage they have to show, the discipline they have to show, the endurance they have to show, it's part of his serenity, the famous Mandela serenity. There's Mr. Mandela, a free man. Over the years, even many who had chanted free Mandela never really expected that the regime would let him go. But in the end, it had to. You cannot kill a great idea by putting somebody in prison. Invariably, it strengthens and reinforces that idea, if it's a good idea, if it's the right idea. It was always an internal story for me, even though it became a big story internationally. Because in all of us, I think, who got involved in that battle, it causes ruptures in families and close relationships. And the people you grow up with, you know, you have these political... And you suddenly feel this tremendous sense of sort of forgiveness, the idea that they were wrong or misguided or just plain stupid. I have found a jewel in this rocky ground. To obey, observe, uphold and maintain the constitution and all other laws of the republic. Finally free, Mandela became president of South Africa and managed the near impossible, the reconciliation of the oppressors with the oppressed. Reconciliation was the message he carried across the world. In Canada, tens of thousands attended Mandela events. Famed Canadian jazz singer Molly Johnson, who revered Mandela, was asked to perform and sang her song, Diamond in My Hand. Singing those lines and sitting right beside Nelson Mandela, I really barely got through them. Because he's lit the torch, he's carried the flame and, by God, I better pick that torch up and move forward on that. We all should. And I felt so inspired by that lyric and suddenly it took on a whole different meaning. You can take it day by day, save your soul in your way, can't you hear me call your name? Quick, now I think I'm falling. I hit those lines and I'm sitting beside Nelson Mandela. It was pretty awe-inspiring. Molly Johnson had been raised in a mixed race family, black father, white mother, that had passionately followed Mandela's long fight against injustice. Mandela, who loved music, gave her a new sense of the power of words and of song. I've always felt about what a privilege it was to be able to string a bunch of words together that rhyme and hook them to some great music and communicate that idea. And the privilege of that is to be smart and strong and put a great message out there. I feel that meeting Nelson just reinforced that, that you have those powers and music can move people. Ever since leaving the racist oppression of South Africa, Zeb Jiva had been an organizer in Toronto for Mandela's African National Congress. He felt overwhelmed when he finally met Mandela. I myself, especially for my size, when I met him, when he was standing and I greeted him, then I realized I had to look up to him. Believe it or not, I did cry. Tears were coming out of my eyes when I met him the first time. However much people were awed by Mandela's courage, his life message was not easy to follow, to reconcile with enemies, to form even bonds with those who'd injured and oppressed you. It caused intense inner struggles among those with so much to resent. There is a Mandelaism that in order to deal with the enemy, if you're not going to just try and wipe him out militarily, you have to give him the impression that you do respect his history and his tongue. So he learned, he changed about this with the Afrikaners. He said, you know, read their history, learn their language. You know, they are part of the new Africa. They're part of the new South Africa. They're real Africans. Those who have had their lives touched, even transformed by Mandela's heroic story, have had years to prepare for his death. Still, even trying to imagine a world without him is not easy. I made a promise to myself that I'd get on a plane just to finish the story, to be at the memorial, but terribly, terribly sad. Personal loss. We will not see his like again. I think the world will weep. I think Salaski definitely will weep. Incredible. Incredible life. Incredible man. Unforgettable. Those touched by Mandela will always remember him. His true legacy, however, will depend on how long the world will take to heart the lessons of his indomitable and forgiving life. For CBC News, I'm Brian Stewart.