NELSON MANDELA
Whole world will miss
this great, gallant soul
Someone once said that it takes courage to see injustice, and then stand up and denounce it. In fact, few people can do it.
Gallantry requires doing this without ever becoming bitter, and even fewer can do that. Nelson Mandela was a rare, great and gallant soul, and he will be missed.
LEAH WARD SEARS, ATLANTA
Once imprisoned, he
rose above vengeance
There are very few people who would be admired while alive, and mourned in death, the way Nelson Mandela has been.
Here was a person who was able to rise above the pettiness so prevalent on the part of most of us today. He was a person who — though imprisoned for almost one-third of his life — was able to rise above vengeance, and truly work for and administer to the people of South Africa.
There are very few of us who would be able to cast aside the call for revenge once in power. Yet, here was a man who was able to do this, no matter what his true feelings might have been. As world leaders go, there has not been one who could match the humanity that Nelson Mandela possessed.
My hat is off to him. His death is a terrible loss to civilization. Rest in peace, Nelson Mandela.
DAVID CLARKE, BUFORD
Even the unafflicted
are moved by his story
On hearing about the death of Nelson Mandela, I was particularly struck. Why I felt such a pang in my heart for a champion of rights violated over a decade ago halfway across the world, felt beyond me. I have known no existence but the American existence. Yet the stone of Mandela’s demise did not merely nick the surface of my heart; it sat there heavy, as a stone does. My not having felt the pain of discrimination felt by the South Africans did nothing but intensify this feeling.
Because of Nelson Mandela’s efforts, the citizens of South Africa are better off, and in a greater sense, more free.
NAJIA HUMAYUN, TUNNEL HILL
RELIGION
Vatican’s treasures
belong to all Catholics
Once in a while, someone mentions the Vatican divesting itself of its riches (“Why not lampoon Vatican’s riches, too?” Readers write, Opinion, Dec. 4). Sounds good — doesn’t it?
For thousands of years, artifacts have accumulated in this one place. Writings of ancient fathers of the church, illuminated manuscripts, historical documents, etc., are held in the name of millions of Catholics. No one person can take it upon himself to divest the church of all of them.
The Vatican is a museum available for study. Its art is the same kind of art in museums throughout the world. To auction off to private collectors these treasures would be to deprive historians who might want to consult them.
The book “Half the Sky” discusses the plight of women, particularly in Third World countries, and points out that one of the most effective systems to help these women is Catholic Relief Services. The charities the Vatican supports are proof enough of the place charity holds in the Catholic Church — and in the halls of the Vatican.
MADELINE G. KORFF, CANTON
