The flag above the White House flies at half staff in honor of former South African President Nelson Mandela, Friday, Dec. 6, 2013 in Washington. For most of the world, his name is synonymous with courage and perseverance. Leaders and citizens, athletes and artists remembered Mandela on Friday _ though many struggled to find words big enough to describe the man who changed the face of South Africa and inspired a continent and a world: a colossus, a father figure, a giant baobab tree providing shade for an entire nation. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)