For Some reason Sean Thomas can't get this published in his telegraph blog
I can't see the problem personally....
How I am even sadder about Mandela than anyone else
I don’t know about you, but I’m sitting here with tears streaming down my face, onto the table, then falling onto the floor. I’ve been crying for the last sixteen hours without cease. Tear after tear after tear.
He’s gone.
Madiba.
He’s left us.
The world, for me, is a shadowy place now, a colder darker more hostile place with no light and total darkness everywhere. Things seem muffled, subdued. Eerily empty. It is like the tiny animals, the squirrels in our parks, are putting their little paws together and praying, in total silence. And also the pigeons.
And still we weep.
Personally, I never met Nelson Mandela, but in a very real sense I met him. He was like a father to me. He was also like a brother, an uncle, a stepfather, a halfbrother, a second cousin, a best friend, a sibling, a nephew, a great uncle, a great great great grandfather, an ancestor, a cheery taxi driver, a friendly neighbour, he was the owner of the cornershop of the world who always knew to save you the last packet of Hobnobs. The Chocolate Hobnobs of Global Reconciliation.
And now he’s gone. Madiba. And I weep my tears, and the weeping will not stop, and the stopping of the tears will not arrive, and the carpet below me is now actually wet from my tears and will need to be shampooed.
But even though he’s gone, he has not gone, because he is still here, even as I reach for more tissues, because his example will be there for all time.
Nelson Mandela was not just the greatest politician of the 20th century, I firmly believe he was the greatest human being of the 20th century. But Nelson Mandela wasn’t just the greatest human being of the the 20th century, no, I firmly believe he was the greatest vertebrate organism in the history of evolution.
And yet, Nelson “Madiba” Mandela was so much more than that. He wasn’t just the greatest vertebrate organism, he was something else too. Something that is perhaps beyond words.
But I am going to have a go anyway.
In a very real sense, Nelson Mandela was probably the greatest thing in the entire history of the observable universe, and it is for this that I believe he will be remembered – remembered with smiles and tears and laughter, long after the sun has exploded into a huge ball of burning helium consuming the earth and destroying everything thereupon.
And this is why I weep. Because today is a time for tears. My tears. My tears of sadness. Because I am so very sad. And I am even sadder about this than any of you, which is why I am, perhaps, in a pure and very humble sense, slightly better than you.
So let us remember, with tears and silence and reflection. And then let us pray, before the hacking sobs really kick in.
I don’t know about you, but I’m sitting here with tears streaming down my face, onto the table, then falling onto the floor. I’ve been crying for the last sixteen hours without cease. Tear after tear after tear.
He’s gone.
Madiba.
He’s left us.
The world, for me, is a shadowy place now, a colder darker more hostile place with no light and total darkness everywhere. Things seem muffled, subdued. Eerily empty. It is like the tiny animals, the squirrels in our parks, are putting their little paws together and praying, in total silence. And also the pigeons.
And still we weep.
Personally, I never met Nelson Mandela, but in a very real sense I met him. He was like a father to me. He was also like a brother, an uncle, a stepfather, a halfbrother, a second cousin, a best friend, a sibling, a nephew, a great uncle, a great great great grandfather, an ancestor, a cheery taxi driver, a friendly neighbour, he was the owner of the cornershop of the world who always knew to save you the last packet of Hobnobs. The Chocolate Hobnobs of Global Reconciliation.
And now he’s gone. Madiba. And I weep my tears, and the weeping will not stop, and the stopping of the tears will not arrive, and the carpet below me is now actually wet from my tears and will need to be shampooed.
But even though he’s gone, he has not gone, because he is still here, even as I reach for more tissues, because his example will be there for all time.
Nelson Mandela was not just the greatest politician of the 20th century, I firmly believe he was the greatest human being of the 20th century. But Nelson Mandela wasn’t just the greatest human being of the the 20th century, no, I firmly believe he was the greatest vertebrate organism in the history of evolution.
And yet, Nelson “Madiba” Mandela was so much more than that. He wasn’t just the greatest vertebrate organism, he was something else too. Something that is perhaps beyond words.
But I am going to have a go anyway.
In a very real sense, Nelson Mandela was probably the greatest thing in the entire history of the observable universe, and it is for this that I believe he will be remembered – remembered with smiles and tears and laughter, long after the sun has exploded into a huge ball of burning helium consuming the earth and destroying everything thereupon.
And this is why I weep. Because today is a time for tears. My tears. My tears of sadness. Because I am so very sad. And I am even sadder about this than any of you, which is why I am, perhaps, in a pure and very humble sense, slightly better than you.
So let us remember, with tears and silence and reflection. And then let us pray, before the hacking sobs really kick in.
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