For the 99% - a few words that inspired Mandela

[MedicalAdmin]

Invictus.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.



William Ernest Henley



When I get discouraged I think of this poem and I think of Mandela and I feel hope.

[tabatha]

1. And some words by Mandela.

To overthrow oppression has been sanctioned by humanity
and is the highest aspiration of every free man.
Nelson Mandela, September 1953

During my lifetime I have dedicated myself
to this struggle of the African people.
I have fought against white domination,
and I have fought against black domination.
I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society
in which all persons live together
in harmony and with equal opportunities.
It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve.
But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
Nelson Mandela


Vive Libya, Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, Syria and the 99ers.

[lunatica]

2. Mandela wrote it on a scarp of paper and hung it on his prison wall

It probably saved his life. It's a very powerful poem written by a teenager who had just had his leg amputated after years of having TB.

Genius is present in some people no matter what age they are.