"I'm Just A Poor Jobless Pensioner, Would You Hire Me?" - Remembering Mandela's SENSE OF HUMOR
Nelson Mandela was many things to many people, but his sense of humor, his dry wit and his remarkable ability to render someone speechless with a well-placed one-liner, is a separate topic worth to be remembered.
He was not the kind of man to fall over in laughter or to guffaw loudly. He did not make silly gaffes, inappropriate innuendos or stupid jokes. Instead, just like the rest of him, his humor was dignified, statesmanlike and perhaps a little old-fashioned.
Some of Mandela's jokes were well-used and a bit cheesy, but that did not detract from their simplicity and effectiveness.
He had a small arsenal of one-liners he used for different people.
If he met a married couple, he demanded to know from the lady, "When did you propose to your husband?"
Of course, for Mandela, with his early 20th century, patriarchal value system, it was hugely amusing to imagine anything as audacious as a woman asking a man to marry her. And of course, his question was always met with nervous, unnaturally loud laughter that broke the ice.
Either way, Mandela won over foes, disarmed critics and charmed the media with his cutesy, gee-whiz humor.
Besides the jokes, he could also lather complete strangers with devastatingly flattering compliments. He often said to those whose lives are not distinguished by public office or marked by accolades, "I am so honored to meet you."
More often than not, he would poke fun at himself with classic comic timing. He would often start off a speech by thanking everyone for coming to listen to "such an old man."
Later, after he stood down after one term as South African president, he won over a group of staid, white South African businessmen by telling them, "Nowadays, I am just a poor pensioner. I am jobless. Maybe you could hire me?"
Self-mockery was a typically savvy Mandela ploy to ensure that people would relax around him.
The cult of Mandela had become so pronounced that celebrities, world leaders and ordinary people often became tongue-tied and gibbering when they met him.
So, joking about his failings or mistakes was just another way of Mandela saying: "Chill! I'm cool. Relax."
Mandela walked with a ramrod gait, straight-backed and stiff. Over the years,many people meet him for the first time, and without exception, they came away from the encounter amazed at how tall and regal-looking he was.
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