Nelson Mandela Dead at 95: U2's Bono reflects on his life as a follower of the South African leader and activist in new 'Time' essay

Activist and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela passed away this week at the age of 95 years old. To say that this man left behind a legacy would be an understatement, but his words and actions will forever influence the rest of the world. One of his biggest followers was U2 frontman Bono, who has become a huge name in activism himself. In a new Time essay published just minutes after Mandela's death, the singer reflects on the man that influenced him for the majority of his life.

"Irish people related all too easily to the subjugation of ethnic majorities," he wrote, explaining his personal reasons for following Mandela. "From our point of view, the question as to how bloody South Africa would have to get on its long road to freedom was not abstract."

This essay went into plenty of details that we already had known about the man, but Bono shared a personal story to conclude the piece.

"It was on Robben Island, in the courtyard outside the cell in which he had spent 18 of his 27 years in prison," he wrote. "He was explaining why he'd decided to use his inmate's number, 46664, to rally a response to the AIDS pandemic claiming so many African lives. One of his cell mates told me that the price Mandela paid for working in the limestone mine was not bitterness or even the blindness that can result from being around the bright white reflection day after day. Mandela could still see, but the dust damage to his tear ducts had left him unable to cry."

Bono added: "For all this man's farsightedness and vision, he could not produce tears in a moment of self-doubt or grief. He had surgery in 1994 to put this right. Now, he could cry. Today, we can."

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