As the world prepares to say its final goodbyes to Nelson Mandela today, the days since his passing have proved his life touched countless souls. His grace, compassion and ability to unite a country torn apart by generations of hatred were truly inspirational, and set a standard from which many in Washington should learn.

Like many thousands of my college contemporaries, exposure to the fundamental injustice and cruelty of apartheid changed my life and shaped my views of justice and politics. I spent a college semester in Nairobi on an exchange program in 1984, when opposition to apartheid in South Africa was one of the pressing political issues of the day. I weathered many debates with African students who sharply criticized the Reagan administration, which opposed sanctions as a means of forcing change in South Africa.

As a senior, I returned to my own college and became active in the anti-apartheid movement then sweeping American campuses. After college, I worked for the Investor Responsibility Research Center in Washington as a researcher on divestment issues, following which I spent three months in South Africa at the height of the 1987 state of emergency, volunteering for the South African Council of Churches led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

The vicious white supremacist worldview that the apartheid regime imposed in that country was truly disturbing. I saw firsthand the deep pain caused by an apartheid system that attempted to determine the destiny of South Africans based on the color of their skin.

Nelson Mandela refused to accept the destiny that was handed to him, and instead of letting his jail cell fill with bitterness and hatred, he led a movement to end apartheid and to remake South Africa into a strong, multiracial democracy. His personal determination in the face of decades of imprisonment and oppression, followed by his unwavering grace and forgiveness toward his former captors is one of the great reconciliation stories in human history.

It was that reconciliation that has made possible South Africa’s promising future.

The history of the late 20th century in the developing world is sadly replete with stories of the first generation of post-colonial leaders who started as democratically elected liberators before overstaying their mandate and evolving over time into strong men and autocrats. Mandela chose a very different path.

President Mandela knew what our own first president, George Washington, knew: that the symbolic power of his presidency demanded a deeper level of service and sacrifice. Shedding the weighty burdens of ego and vanity, Mandela recognized his country would be better served if someone else were responsible for governing, and so he peacefully and voluntarily stepped down after a single term.

It wasn’t that Mandela lacked ambition. It was that his ambition wasn’t to build personal power, but a stronger country. While his presidency was inherently symbolic of his country’s desire for peace and reconciliation, Mandela’s mission was to help move his country forward, once it was free from the shackles of apartheid.

Serving as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs gives me the opportunity to meet with leaders from across the continent, many of whom struggle to bridge complex internal divisions. Too often in recent decades, politics has become a platform for personal profiteering and score settling, and the preservation of power has been placed above what’s best for the people.

At a time of historic division in our own politics, these are themes that certainly resonate in Washington.

In so many ways, Nelson Mandela reminded a new generation of leaders around the world what it means to truly lead. He taught us that forgiveness is not only possible – it is powerful.

It is my hope that Mandela’s example will help us renew our own efforts at reconciliation and principled compromise.