R.I.P Nelson Mandela

According to ESPN, former South African President, Nelson Mandela, died at the age of 95. The former President changed the world on his views of civil rights and has made sports the big thing that has united his country. He also changed the law on Apartheid in the nation of South Africa and became a figure head for equality of blacks and whites.

                Nelson Mandela was a young civil rights activist in the mid 1900’s and spoke against the ruling of the segregated government of Apartheid that South Africa had adopted. Upon being arrested for his outspoken nature he was sentenced to life in prison. He spent his first fifteen to twenty years without much recognition but then people rallied around his wrongful imprisonment and started supporting the anti-Apartheid movement. This received world-wide attention and pressure from the United States and other countries around the world.  And after twenty seven years Nelson Mandela was set to become a free man.

                After getting out of prison Mandela rose through the ranks of South African politics he was elected President of South Africa in 1994. Mandela was stuck with a hard task to reunite his country after all of the fighting over civil rights. But there was one thing that Nelson Mandela believed that united every person no matter who they were. That thing was sports. Nelson’s favorite sport was rugby and it was a huge sport in South Africa, so Mandela pushed to get the 1995 World Cup of Rugby to be held in his own nation. After long months of consideration the country of South Africa was set to host the World Cup. As the games progressed South Africa’s team won round after round to make it to the final and after a couple weeks of competition, the Rugby World Cup was theirs! This entire situation brought the country together. For the first time, whites were riding on buses and cars with blacks and nobody was judging over skin color and there was no fighting. This event is what finally brought the nation together and Mandela had done his job as a President.

                Even though Nelson Mandela only served one term as President of South Africa, his legacy will never be forgotten. He brought South Africa out of the depths to become one of the richest nations in all of Africa. He also brought equality to the nation after he abolished Apartheid. He is said to be one of the greatest men of all-time. It just shows that no matter where you start in life you can always finish on top and that nobody should ever give up on their dreams and aspirations no matter what the case may be.