Real life informs fictional life

I've been watching part of Nelson Mandela's funeral service this morning.   It struck me that the stories people have been telling about his life and the way they shared in it are powerful triggers for writing.  

There is no doubt that Nelson Mandela was an extraordinary man, one of the visionaries that come our way only occasionally.  And he could be a great source of ideas for fictional stories.  The struggle of good against evil is eternal, and Mandela reminds us that good and bad aren't immovable concepts.  He eventually got the world to accept that blacks ands whites were equal.  

Of course they are.  Every creature on Earth is equal, but humans are clever enough to construct convoluted mental arguments to justify why they hate others, or subject them to inequality.

Stories need conflict to work, and sadly, humans aren't about to run out of reasons for conflict any time soon, either in real life or in fiction.