Dear Editor:
Racial tolerance and forgiveness are perhaps the most profound message that a deceased person can leave behind as a legacy, and Nelson Mandela left just that.
Over the years, I've observed that, regardless of nationality or ethnicity, a person's level of formal education (though not to presume that of the late Mandela) tends to proportionally reflect his/her capacity for racial harmony and the resultant peace with oneself.
Yes, unfortunately, a person's past rearing environment significantly involving a vilely racist parent or guardian filling the child's mind with racial bigotry can act as a formidable hindrance to such desirable racial harmony.
However, along with (especially higher) education, over time, the seed of tolerance can spawn and grow large to reason one's twisted thinking away from childhood-ingrained racist sentiment.
Furthermore, not readily known by the general populace is that not only does such education fill the mind with knowledge, it also notably contributes to the development of the brain's "hardwiring," thus enabling greater cerebral function potential.
To advance Mandela's legacy, the ultimate goal of humanity's evolution into a world free of racism, I'm convinced that foremost there needs to be universal access to education - ideally, of course, on a global scale.
All of humankind's minds need to and should be filled with significant knowledge before they're tragically filled and thus corrupted with racially disharmonious, humankind disintegrating poison.
Frank G. Sterle, Jr., White Rock
