????納爾遜?曼德拉在反對種族隔離的斗爭中犧牲了家庭、舒適和職業成功等美好生活的傳統標識，以一位良心犯的身份，度過了長達27年的牢獄之災。1994年，他一躍成為肩負領導國家之責的南非總統。當選后，曼德拉選擇了寬恕，而非為蒙冤過往復仇，進而幫助南非人構筑了一個全新的社會根基。

????盡管被他的人民奉為國父，但僅僅完成一個任期后，他就主動交出權杖，而不是像許多非洲強人那樣，終生緊握最高權力，一刻也不愿松手。

????這難道不是唯有圣人才有的品質嗎？許多人當然如是看待曼德拉。美國總統奧巴馬最近稱他為“最偉大的歷史人物之一。”英國廣播公司( BBC )認為他“或許是我們這個時代受到最廣泛贊賞的人物。”2012年的一項研究顯示，曼德拉已成為全球性品牌，知名度僅次于可口可樂(Coca-Cola)。”

????但也有不同聲音。身為南非種族隔離時代最后一位領導人的德克勒克聲稱：“我并不認同世人為曼德拉譜寫的圣徒頌歌。與如今廣泛描述的形象恰恰相反，他絕對不是一位慈愛如圣徒般的人物。”

????這種直言不諱的觀點出自德克勒克之口，應該不會讓我們感到驚訝。盡管因廢除種族隔離制度的貢獻，他和曼德拉分享了諾貝爾和平獎，但兩人終究是死敵，對于這位對手，曼德拉也幾乎沒有做出過正面的評價。但就自己獲得的圣徒美譽這一點而言，曼德拉其實同意德克勒克的觀點：“我不是救世主，而是一位因特殊情勢演變為領導者的普通人。”

????事實上，在曼德拉的自傳《漫漫自由路》(Long Walk to Freedom)中，除了通常以他為主角、充滿盛贊之辭的頭條新聞外，我們其實還可以發現他犯下的許多錯誤。

????曼德拉是一位差勁的學者，一位在課堂上如坐針氈的法律系學生。1962年，他開始擁抱暴力，創建了非洲人國民大會(ANC)的秘密武裝力量“民族之矛”(Spear of the Nation)，隨后展開一系列針對政府的游擊戰爭，并遠航至埃塞俄比亞學習槍械使用技能。1994年南非首次民主選舉期間，為確保非國大獲得壓倒性勝利，他四處游說，試圖把選民的最低年齡從18歲降至14歲，還援引一個極其可疑，包括朝鮮、伊朗和古巴在內的五國名單作為先例。這個舉動遭到了廣泛的批評。

????1991年，他前往贊比亞，要求贊比亞人選舉肯尼思?卡翁達重新執掌最高權力，盡管在長達27年的獨裁統治之后，卡翁達當時已完全喪失了民心。卡翁達最終落敗。擔任總統期間，曼德拉政府在很大程度上忽視了艾滋病在南非的病毒式蔓延。到他退休的時候，南非成年人的艾滋病感染人數已攀升至11.7%這一令人震驚的比例。

????也許是由于這個時代過于渴望完美無瑕的英雄人物，我們急匆匆地把曼德拉抬上了一座他本人并不認可的偶像神壇。

????Nelson Mandela sacrificed the usual trappings of a good life – family, comfort, professional success – to spend 27 years as a prisoner of conscience in his fight against apartheid. He emerged to lead his nation as its president in 1994 and chose to forgive rather than seek revenge for past crimes, helping South Africans build a new social foundation.

????After only one term in office, despite being viewed as a father of his nation by his people, he chose to hand over the reins of power voluntarily rather than keep a lifelong grip as many other strong leaders have sought to do in Africa.

????Is this not the makings of a saint? Many of us have certainly viewed Mandela as such. President Obama recently called him "one of the greatest people in history," the BBC described him as "perhaps the most generally admired figure of our age," and a research study in 2012 established Mandela as the second-most-well-known brand in the world, after Coca-Cola (KO).

????And yet, there are dissenting voices. F.W. de Klerk, the last apartheid-era leader of South Africa, said, "I do not subscribe to the general hagiography surrounding Mandela. He was by no means the avuncular and saint-like figure so widely depicted today."

????Coming from de Klerk, this unflattering view should not surprise us. Though he shared the Nobel Prize with Mandela for their work in dismantling apartheid, they were fierce opponents, and Mandela too had few positive things to say about his adversary. But on the point of his own sainthood, Mandela actually agreed with de Klerk: "I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances."

????Indeed, there are many markers on Mandela's "Long Walk to Freedom" -- beyond the glowing ticker-tape headlines we normally associate with him -- that demonstrate his fallibility.

????Mandela made for a poor scholar, struggling through his classes as a law student. In 1962, he embraced violence, founding Umkhonto we Sizwe -- Spear of the Nation -- the ANC's armed wing, which launched guerrilla attacks on the government, and journeyed to Ethiopia to learn how to use firearms. During South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994, he actively canvassed for lowering the voting age from 18 to 14 years to ensure a strong win for the ANC, citing as precedents a questionable list of five countries that included North Korea, Iran, and Cuba -- a move that was widely criticized.

????In 1991, he traveled to Zambia and asked its people to vote Kenneth Kaunda back into power, even while Kaunda was very unpopular at that time after a 27-year dictatorship. Kaunda ended up losing. And as president, Mandela presided over an administration that largely ignored the AIDS epidemic in South Africa, with a shocking 11.7% of South African adults infected with the virus by the time he retired.

????Perhaps in our yearning for perfect heroes, we have rushed to place him on a pedestal that he himself recognized was not appropriate.