WHAT I TAKE FROM THE BOOK, OR FROM NELSON MANDELA...

The book is basically about Mandela´s character or personality, how he was before going to prison and how much he changed behind bars. I am talking about qualities or characteristics of his personality and how he used them to achieve his core principle of a non-racial democracy and a free society. For example being courageous in those circumstances is something admirable. But we can also experience courageous in our everyday routine, with our daily little problems, and feel proud of it as long as we are doing the right thing on every moment. And that is what I try every day.

Another lesson which impressed me from him is being measured, don´t act too fast, don´t hurry; think, analyze and then act. This quality comes from being an intelligent person or even more, being wise. A wise person acts like that, considering all the different options and points of view before acting or taking a decision. I take also this one because when you apply it to your small world as it is a family, and especially thinking of the children, I think it gives all the members a sense of responsibility and of freedom.

Probably the king of the qualities is ¨see the good in others¨. If politicians and others persons with big responsibilities in the countries had thought and acted seeing the good in others, can you imagine how many wars we could have avoided! Once more this characteristic comes from being a wise person. As Atticus Finch said in the book and film ¨To kill a mockingbird¨, to understand other person we should put ourselves in his/her own shoes.

To finish with my impressions, I will mix two more qualities in only one. I share with Mandela the fact that in many situations the answer is not always yes or not, but it is sometimes both or maybe something in between. This leads you to try to reconcile different opinions, different wishes, and it helps you not to be wrong under some circumstances. But one thing is for sure, when the answer is no, I don´t postpone it. Life is too short to waste our time with excuses.