When Nelson Mandela was studying law at the University, a white professor named Peters despised him.
Mr. Peters was having lunch in the dining room one day when Mandela arrived with his trays and sat next to the professor. “Mr Mandela, you do not understand, a pig and a bird do not sit together to eat,” the professor said. Mandela looked at him as a parent would at a disobedient child and calmly replied, “You need not be concerned, professor. “I’ll fly away,” he said as he walked over to another table.
Professor Peters, enraged, resolved to exact his revenge. The next day in class, he asked, “Mr. Mandela, if you were walking down the street and found a package containing a bag of wisdom and another bag containing money, which one would you take?” Mandela responded without hesitation, “Of course, the one with the money.”
“I, in your place, would have taken the wisdom,” Professor Peters said sarcastically. “Each one takes what he doesn’t have,” Nelson Mandela shrugged. Professor Peters was on the verge of exploding with rage at this point.
His rage was so intense that he wrote the word “IDIOT” on Nelson Mandela’s exam sheet and gave it to the future struggle icon. Mandela took the exam sheet and sat down at his desk, attempting to remain calm as he considered his next move.
A few minutes later, Nelson Mandela stood up, approached the professor, and said, “Mr. Peters, you signed your name on the sheet, but you forgot to give me my grade.”