It's quite sad to think such a great person is no longer with us, despite being no surprise. All (and I mean all) of the South Africans I know, regardless of age, race, background, gender, etc, are devastated. Just merely being alive did something for them, it's interesting to see. I guess some people just don't work on that level.
Personally, I always regard Mandela's story of the perfect character change story. Because he WAS practically a terrorist early on and that quarter of a century in prison allowed him to teach himself to vent his anger constructively. What resulted was almost mythical! When in power he could have turned the tables and got his revenge, but no, he forgave them.