Nelson Mandela by Geoff Blackwell

Author:Geoff Blackwell [Blackwell, Geoff & Hobday, Ruth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chronicle Books LLC
Published: 2020-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

Time, Body and Soul

Mandela accessed another source of essential energy, and arguably power, through a range of daily disciplines. He took care of himself. He cared about the way he looked and the way he was seen. Even in the midst of the greatest clamour as a global icon and leader of demanding processes, he had his routines and he always kept an eye on his watch. There was a deliberateness about everything he did. He detested disrespect for punctuality. Time was a precious resource to be tended, both for self and for others. He could be obsessive about it.

Mandela always liked to be early. Not for him the indulgence of very important persons who expect the less exalted to wait for them. He reserved a special anger, sometimes a fury, for those who kept him and others waiting. On one occasion a well-known leader felt his wrath when the leader arrived very late for an event at which he was a speaker. When Mandela stood up to speak after him, he began with an extended homily on the importance of punctuality.

Perhaps the one day on which he could have been expected to be a little tardy, a little less disciplined, was the morning after his release from prison. The previous day had been a full and punishing one. He walked out of Victor Verster Prison after waiting many hours for the arrival of his wife Winnie.xxiii

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