At 94, nearly 95, people have at least in the back of their minds been expecting that something like that was going to come sooner rather than later. With his most recent hospitalization, one of at least three since December, it appears that has finally come to the fore and made people aware that Mandiba may be at an end.
Across South Africa and across the world people are bracing for what they now feel is inevitable. Some are even planning for such a possibility, some even seem to be embracing it even though they love Mandela. In fact many governments are already planning flights for their leaders in anticipation of a funeral and seem like they would be really disappointed if they had to cancel or change those plans significantly if the old man decides to like survive and stuff.
“It looks bad. Washington is keeping a close eye on the former leader and civil rights hero,” said one U.S. official.
Even South African leaders such as President Jacob Zuma have been expressing dire warnings about the health of Mandela, just a little too enthusiastically for some.
Recent reports suggest that Mandela is responding to treatment at least for the time being so he may survive a little longer after all.
“It’s going to be a sad day for the world. really the whole world, the day Mandela dies. It will happen though, it has to happen. He is not a superman, he is just a man and that is why people love him. I’m sure people would still love him if he was a superman because he is also a decent guy. There would be some resentment with all those cool powers but he would still be a good person so people would like him,” said Scrape TV International analyst Gustav Hander. “That’s irrelevant though because he is not a superman, that’s the point of all this. He is just a regular man who did remarkable things and even those kinds of people end up dying in the end, every single one throughout history has died before Mandela and he will join them eventually.”
It’s not clear why exactly people are so focussed on Mandela dying if they love him so much.
“I think most reasonable people understood that he would die eventually. They love him but love is not enough to overcome time and age. Luckily they have had him for a long time, probably longer than the world deserves to be honest, and soon he will be gone which I guess will at least satisfy people’s travel arrangements,” continued Hander. “it must be frustrating especially for world leaders who have a ton of things to do and to fit in. They will have to attend, obviously, but this indecisiveness about dying really has to suck for them. One day, one day Mandela will be dead and then all this will be behind them.”
It’s not clear whether or not Mandela wants to die or if he even understands what’s going on.