“I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.” ― human rights icon, statesman and moral educator Nelson Mandela, from his "Long Walk to Freedom: Autobiography of Nelson Mandela."
Today is #MandelaDay, marking the anniversary of his birth in 1918 in an apartheid South Africa. Through long personal struggle, he changed that and became South Africa's first freely elected President in 1994 after years of imprisonment for advocating equal rights for South Africa's people of color. The impacts of years of racial discrimination and bloodshed are felt to this day, as South Africa copes with riots stemming from systemic economic inequality.
