9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Crowd cheering and clapping hands...) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Thank you..... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Crowd cheering continues... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Thank you.... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Thank you so much.. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Thank you.. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 To Graça Machel and the Mandela family.. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 To President Zuma and the members of the government, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to heads of states and goverment, past and present,distinguished guests.. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It is a singular honour to be with you today to celebrate a life like no other. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 To the people of South Africa,... ( Crowd cheering) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 people of every race and every walk of life, the world thanks you for sharing Nelson Mandela with us. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 His struggle was your struggle. His triumph was your triumph. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Your dignity and your hope found expression in his life and your freedom, your democracy is his cherished legacy. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It is hard to eulogize any man -- to capture in words not just the facts and the dates that make a life, but the essential truth of a person- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 their private joys and sorrows; the quiet moments and unique qualities that illuminate someone’s soul. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 How much harder to do so for a giant of history, who moved a nation toward justice, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and in the process moved billions around the world. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Born during World War I, far from the corridors of power, a boy raised herding cattle and tutored by the elders of his Thembu tribe, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Madiba would emerge as the last great liberator of the 20th century. ike Gandhi, he would lead a resistance movement -- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a movement that at its start had little prospect for success. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Like Dr King, he would give potent voice to the claims of the oppressed and the moral necessity of racial justice. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He would endure a brutal imprisonment that began in the time of Kennedy and Khrushchev, and reached the final days of the Cold War. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emerging from prison, without the force of arms, he would -- like Abraham Lincoln -- hold his country together when it threatened to break apart. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And like America’s Founding Fathers, he would erect a constitutional order to preserve freedom for future generations. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A-- a commitment to democracy and rule of law ratified not only by his election, but by his willingness to step down from power after only one term. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 ( crowd cheeing... continues) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Given the sweep of his life, the scope of his accomplishments, the adoration that he so rightly earned, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it’s tempting I think to remember Nelson Mandela as an icon, smiling and serene, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 detached from the tawdry affairs of lesser men. But Madiba himself strongly resisted such a lifeless portrait. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Crowd cheering.......) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Instead, Mandela insisted on sharing with us his doubts and his fears, his miscalculations along with his victories 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "I am not a saint", he said “unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.” 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It was precisely because he could admit to imperfection -- because he could be so full of good humor, even mischief, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 despite the heavy burdens he carried -- that we loved him so. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He was not a bust made of marble; he was a man of flesh and blood -- a son and a husband, a father and a friend. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And that’s why we learned so much from him, and that’s why we can learn from him still. For nothing he achieved was inevitable. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In the arc of his life, we see a man who earned his place in history through struggle and shrewdness, and persistence and faith. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He tells us what is possible not just in the pages of history books, but in our own lives as well. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Mandela showed us the power of action; of taking risks on behalf of our ideals. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Perhaps Madiba was right that he inherited, “a proud rebelliousness, a stubborn sense of fairness” from his father. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000