14.

“That spiritual and physical oneness we all share with this common homeland explains the depth of the pain we all carried in our hearts as we saw our country tear itself apart in a terrible conflict and as we saw it spurned, outlawed and isolated by the peoples of the world.”

— 10 May 1994 Inaugural Address

Beloved President Mandela, on the strength of your spiritual and physical oneness with your beloved homeland, South Africa, you saw that in her inmost consciousness she was fully awakened, fully bloomed and fully blossomed. She was ready, eager and willing to be free and to take her rightful place among the comity of nations — nay, at the very forefront of the nations. Even as you prayed for the garden gate of South Africa’s heart to be opened, you saw this beautiful garden being trampled before your very eyes. Who can ever fathom the depth of the pain that filled your heart?

Now, because of your life of unending selflessness and sacrifice, along with the lives of your comrades, the whole world flocks to love and adore the exquisite beauty of South Africa’s heart-garden.