( CNN ) -- The Rev . Jesse L. Jackson was fond of quoting his version of the Romans 5:3-5 passage that discusses the positive impact adversity can have on one 's life . `` Suffering builds character , character breeds faith , and in the end faith will not disappoint , '' Jackson often said in speeches . He could have been describing Nelson Mandela 's 27 years in prison , and lifelong fight for freedom . Since Mandela passed , a narrative has emerged that he entered prison as a violent revolutionary and emerged as a nonviolent peacemaker and reconciler . That is , at best , revisionist history . Prison did not turn Mandela into a pacifist , but it may have turned him into a realist aware of the difficulty of healing the racial wounds in his country . When Mandela was released in 1990 , I was in South Africa covering it as a reporter , traveling with Jackson . I recall the throngs of people that awaited Mandela and marveled at the scene . When I spoke to Mandela in a brief interview , he hinted at how his time in prison affected him . `` How do you not hate white people ? '' I asked him . His answer surprised me . `` If I had allowed myself to become bitter , I would have died in prison , '' he said . His ideals never changed in prison and never softened his stance against apartheid . `` I am not prepared to sell the birthright of the people to be free , '' he said . Mandela was offered many times to be released from prison if he had been willing to make certain concessions about his anti-government views . But he did not . What I believe did change during Mandela 's time in prison was his view of what it would take to move his country forward after the end of apartheid as a free and democratic country for all South Africans . His truth and reconciliation policy allowed the country to heal . It allowed black South Africans to learn what happened to their loved ones who disappeared . It brought closure and opened the door to forgiveness . Beyond the country 's healing , it also demonstrated that Mandela would be the president of all South Africa , not just a black South Africa . Mandela and his fellow freedom fighters fought to end the evil of apartheid -- not simply to beat down the perpetrators of it . Keeping his eyes on that prize and not allowing himself to be consumed by hate helped shape him into the leader that a new South Africa needed , and one we can admire . No one can say what Mandela would have been like if he had not gone to prison . But perhaps it is safe to say that without that time in prison , he would have been different : no less charismatic , no less brilliant . Because what prison helped Mandela understand was that even a black president who had been denied full citizenship in his country could not let hate -- even the anger that hate begot -- have the last word . If he did , South Africa could not move forward . And neither can we . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Sylvester Monroe .
Sylvester Monroe : Nelson Mandela 's leadership was shaped by his 27 years in prison . Prison did n't turn Mandela into a pacifist but perhaps a realist , Monroe says . Suffering , truth and forgiveness contributed in helping heal racial wounds , he says .