'It was as if he was born to teach the age a lesson in humility, in humour and above all else in patience.
In the end, Nelson Mandela showed us how to love rather than hate, not because he had never surrendered to rage or violence, but because he learnt that love would do a better job. Mandela played with the highest stakes. He put his family, his country, his time, his life on the line, and he won most of these contests. Stubborn til the end for all the right reasons, it felt like he very nearly outstared his maker.
Today, finally, he blinked. And some of us cry, knowing our eyes were opened to so much because of him.
