Nelson Mandela

We heard it from Mandela, turn this world around
For the children--turn this world around
He's done it once before, and now we hear his call
For the children--turn this world around

The dreams of our young ones born into this world
Need respect and love to come alive
Honoring the children is what we're here to do
Now is the hour and we've got the power to

Turn, turn, turn, turn this world around
For the children--turn this world around

--from Raffi's song "Turn This World Around"
(A Song for Nelson Mandela)

At the launch of the Say Yes to Children campaign in 2000, my hero Nelson Mandela said it was not enough for world leaders to continue to spout rhetoric. What we need, he said, is to "turn this world around--for the children!" This inspired me to write a song I hoped would become a rallying cry to help create a child-honoring world�a world that truly honors its young.

Nelson Mandela ( Photos courtesy of The Mandela Page)

What inspires me most about Mandela is the way this tenacious freedom fighter spent twenty-six years in captivity without becoming bitter or demeaning his jailers; refused two offers to be set free on the principle that only free persons can enter into a contract; triumphed over the temptation for revenge; mastered his own lion-heart, and with it confounded his captors such that they felt captive--to their stark injustice. Like the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain, apartheid, that once impregnable and violent partitioning of people by the color of their skin, disintegrated over time and crumbled, outdone by an unbeatable color-blind foe.

Despite tremendous outward oppression Mandela remained unbeaten and unbowed. That achievement is so striking because he had to resist not only the assaults of his captors but the temptation to surrender to anger, bitterness, and hatred.

His is also a story of the indomitable spirit of South Africans who prevailed at long last over insurmountable odds, by sheer determination, by faith in the vision of a unified homeland, by the grace of music and celebration they kept alive in the darkest of their times. South Africa's triumph is testimony to the power of mind and heart over despair. A boxer turned champion peacemaker inspired a nation of believers and won the support of a world of sympathizers.

Human history is rarely as compelling as when we can see how the actions of one person can move so many and change so much. Nelson Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 and has received more than 50 honorary degrees from universities all over the world. Yet, even in triumph, Mandela has maintained a humble demeanor that marks this uncommon man with the common touch, father of a nation, hero in a turbulent age.

Mandela is that rarity among public figures, the one who stays true to his origins, true to his calling--in his case, to a lifelong pursuit of social justice. Even in elderhood Mandela has not retired from public life. He works tirelessly to address the state of the world�s children, to "turn this world around."