He will not be remembered purely for his existence. He will be remembered for the differences he made in the lives of others. Those differences determine the significance of the life he led. He was the former leader of South Africa. He passed away Thursday Dec. 5 from an undiagnosed ailment, believed to be lung disease. He was Nelson Mandela.

After 95 years, Mandela’s heart stopped beating, while his legacy continues to beat on.  Mandela’s accomplishments speak for themselves: in 1993, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for all of his efforts towards ending the oppressive apartheid regime in South Africa. As well as helping to lay the framework for the Democratic political structure that would follow. Mandela made history in 1994, when he was elected as South Africa’s first black president.

The United States’ own first black president remarked on the death of his friend and colleague.

“When the night grows dark, when injustice weighs heavy on our hearts, or our best laid plans seem beyond our reach – think of Madiba [Mandela’s African name], and the words that brought him comfort within the four walls of a cell,” United States president Barack Obama said in Johannesburg South Africa Tuesday, Dec. 10, according to NPR.com. “It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”

Arguably, the most important years of Mandela’s life were spent in an eight by seven foot jail cell on Robben Island. 27 years- almost three decades. The floor as his bed. A bucket as his toilet. One visitor a year. Out of 525,949 minutes in 365 days, he was allotted only 30 to interact with another human being, despite the fact that he wasn’t treated as one.  All according to “The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela,” an article on PBS’ Frontline.

According to an obituary about Mandela on CNN.com, he is the father of modern day South Africa. Not only is he the father of his people, but he’s their moral compass, their freedom fighter and the symbol of their triumph over racial oppression.

At a memorial service for Mandela, his grandchildren remembered his life, his legacy and all of his work towards freeing his people.

“You tower over the world like a comet, leaving streets for us to follow,” his grandchildren said at the memorial service according to CNN.com. “We salute you.”

According to the CNN article Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid icon and father of modern South Africa’s, last public appearance was at a soccer tournament in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Mandela said he wants to be remembered not as anyone unique or special, but as part of a team in a country that has struggled for so long.  His message of encouragement lives on in his statement that the “greatest glory of living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time you fall.” Mandela fell but he rose each and every day to fight again.

At this falling, his soul continues to rise up in the hearts of people throughout the world to continue what he started.  To continue his legacy of freedom, courage and justice.