To my compatriots, I have no hesitation in saying that each one of us is as intimately attached to
the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the mimosa
trees of the bushveld.
Each time one of us touches the soil of this land, we feel a sense of personal renewal. The national
mood changes as the seasons change. We are moved by a sense of joy and exhilaration when the
grass turns green and the flowers bloom.
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, precisely because it
has become the universal base of the pernicious ideology and practice of racism and racial
oppression.
We, the people of South Africa, feel fulfilled that humanity has taken us back into its bosom, that
we, who were outlaws not so long ago, have today been given the rare privilege to be host to the
nations of the world on our own soil.
The time for the healing of the wounds has come. The moment to bridge the chasms that divide
us has come. The time to build is upon us.
1. What contrasts does Mandela include?
2. Why does he make these kinds of contrasts?
