The death of Nelson Mandela

[Liz Rosenthal]

I don't think Mandela saw what he was doing as evil. The evil was coming from the white Afrikaan's who were oppressing his people. I think he wanted things to be peaceful, but realized that peaceful demonstrations had gotten nowhere. It's sad that violence had to take center stage, but you can't fight bullets with hope.

Best
Rob

This reminds me of something Lincoln said during a period in which the Union cause was foundering. From what I can recall, and I could be off a little bit in describing the context, Lincoln suggested that certain northern critics of the Union war effort advocated employing what amounted to "elder-stalk squirts charged with rose water," which obviously wouldn't get very far with an intractible South. Perhaps Mandela had something similar to say during his less hopeful days.