The world has now seen the passing of Nelson Mandela. He lived, he struggled, he stood, he danced, he rose, he overcame, and he walked that long walk to freedom and the world is a better place for him having lived. Humanity is walking, hopefully to a higher ground by listening and following  bright spirits like Mandela. We need to take his words to heart and let all hearts take action.
   Today I choose photos in black and white. Even in photos the truth is not as simple as ''black'' and ''white''. the are many gradations of shades evidenced even in ''back and white''. Life is complex and full of variety. Look for the beauty everywhere you can and try to add to enhance it in whatever way you find possible with your light and life..

"As the years progress one increasingly realises the importance of friendship and human solidarity. And if a 90-year-old may offer some unsolicited advice on this occasion, it would be that you, irrespective of your age, should place human solidarity, the concern for the other, at the centre of the values by which you live." Nelson Mandela

"Peace does not fare well where poverty and deprivation reign. It does not flourish where there is ignorance and a lack of education and information. Repression, injustice and exploitation are inimical with peace. Peace is gravely threatened by inter-group fear and envy and by the unleashing of unrealistic expectations. Racial, class and religious intolerance and prejudice are its mortal enemies." Frederik W. de Klerk

"Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. While poverty persists, there is no true freedom." Nelson Mandela

''To live anywhere in the world today and be against equality because of race or color is like living in Alaska and being against snow. '' William Faulkner

“Our true nationality is mankind.” H.G  Wells

“No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them” Elie Wiesel

“Achievement has no color”  Abraham Lincoln

“The pianokeys are black and white
but they sound like a million colors in your mind” Maria Cristina Mena

"I have not been  animated in my life to fight against race and sex discrimination simply because of my own identity. That would mean that one must be South African to fight apartheid, or a poor white in Appalachia to fight poverty, or Jewish to fight anti-semitism. And I just reject that conception of how struggles should be waged.'' Eleanor Holmes Norton

 

''I don't think anyone is black and white and I think we change our minds and our attitudes as we grow to our maturity.'' Giancarlo Esposito

“I wish I could say that racism and prejudice were only distant memories. We must dissent from the indifference. We must dissent from the apathy. We must dissent from the fear, the hatred and the mistrust…We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better.” Thurgood Marshall