There are numerous outstanding peace creators who are well known in late history. Two of them are Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi. They both were famous leaders, but in different areas. They are from the well-known countries and both are known as honorable men for the changes they made for their countries. They started out as lawyers, but found their true calling as freedom fighter in the same country, South Africa. Their attitude and character are what truly make them unique to one another.
Nelson Mandela was elected as the first black president of South Africa. Mandela effectively included in the opposition to politically sanction the ANC, a little gathering of youthful Africans united together, calling themselves the African National Congress Youth League. Becoming actively involved in the anti-apartheid movement in his 20s, Mandela joined the African National Congress in 1942. For 20 years, he directed a campaign of peaceful, non-violent defiance against the South African government and its racist policies. In 1993 Mandela and South African President were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to dismantle the country's apartheid system. His care for the country extended to all of its people as he said that he, "cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society" (Mandela 123). On the other hand, Gandhi never contested in any election prior to or after the independence of India. He became a leader of Indian's independence movement, organizing boycott against British institution in peaceful forms of civil disobedience. As a pioneer of Satygraha, or resistance through mass non-violent civil, he became one of the major political and spiritual leaders of his time.
Gandhi spent his years in prison hoping and praying for the people outside the prison. His concern was not for himself, but for the people that stood by him. Nelson Mandela was shut off from his countrymen for 27 years, imprisoned, until his release on February 11, 1990.
