Little lessons in life

After being sheltered from it for so long since the advent of internet banking and telephones, oh yes and paying other people to do it for you, I was once again re-introduced to the exciting world of bureaucracy and public service employees….oh my maimed and shattered nerves!! I stand back and shake my head. Something sooo simple can be made to look soooo complex and intricate, but ey I guess it is what it is not so?!

A brief background, my friend Michael has a group immensely talented kids that he sort of manages and gets gigs for them, the hope of these kids is to I guess get some basic discipline in them, expose them to life beyond Dobsonville where many of them hail from but all currently live and also to try and raise funding for them so they can further their education or get some sort of a chance in life. For example one of the lasses who is part of the band got a scholarship to study BComm, from a Canadian lady who was exposed to her and the band. Now this is Michaels project, but he asked me to be a trustee which I accepted, but I must say up until this year, errr a couple of weeks ago ;), just before the world cup, I was one in name only and attending meetings and throwing in my 2 cents here and there... Anyway so a few weeks ago Mike asked me to accompany him and the kids to Canada cos he will need some assistance, I was like errrrr ok…easy part done.

Ok so now we can carry on. So many lessons of humility, patience and gratitude were definitely learnt. So it started on Sunday, when we got all the parents of the kids to come and firstly listen to their kids perform and help fill out the visa applications and permission forms for their kids. Its in times like this and occasions like that, that highlight how fortunate we are regarding education and how we should never ever ever take for granted the little things that we have in life. For you and I, reading and filling out what seems to be the simplest form is like second nature, but that’s because we have been exposed to such things. But it actually isn’t that easy. I guess like most things, practice makes perfect. 25 kids parents later…This was definitely an exercise of gratitude, humility and patience. I know it sounds helluva dramatic, but in all sincere honesty, and not making it a racial thing at all but just stating the facts as they were presented before me. As a man of African decent, yes maybe not born here, but I came here in the early 80s, when I was 7, I have to never ever take for granted the opportunities that I was granted, to attend a superb school, mix with people of all ages from such a young age etc. etc. Its actually how we take the little things for granted, but those things, those are the things that really matter. Anyway so I did what I could and headed off to my folks, you know me and Sunday fufu ☺

Then on Tuesday we, being Jabu, the young leader of the group who really does all the admin, and who helped me sort out all the applications, invitation letters etc etc…so off we went to the visa place, had to make a stop first so got there at about 9.15. There were a few people in front of us, so we waited for about 20 minutes, got to the front and the lady at the counter looked at us, saw like 26 passports and said no, no no no senior, please go to the other counter, I smiled and then stepped aside. So about 9.40, the lady in the other counter begrudgingly summonsed us over to her. Mind you this place closes at 10am right, her unwillingness to assist us was etched all over her face as bright and as prevalent as a Maori’s tattoos. But anyway she humoured us for a few minutes, went through one or two of the applications and found fault with them. Some of the fault she found was that only the mother and not the father had signed the docs. In there was a NOTARISED letter from the parent stating that the father was never there nor does she know the whereabouts of the father, and/or she has sinced heard that he has died. She still insists he must sign or get a death certificate…she sent us packing till the next day. I tried to tell her that she should start processing the ones that were correct and let me go and work on the ones that weren’t…nah bra, that’s logical AND it would result in work, so lets rather not…her excuse to me is that you guys are a group so we do it all together. I shook my head but what to do. Left the house at 7, it was now about 10.15, and no joy.

So I decided ok let me go to CIPRO seeing as I am there, all I need to do is change the address of my CC and get a CK1 printed and pay my annual fees, how hard could that be…left the bloody place at 14h30, and no they weren’t having a disco there nor were there any attractive lasses that caught my attention…no no noo, just a bunch of people that think that doing their job is doing you a favour…definitely a lesson in patience right there, but at least at the end of that I managed to do what I needed to…but I could have sworn that It should have taken maximum of 30 minutes…but alas. You know how it goes, ask clearly, get sent to a queue, get to the front of the queue, and oops sorry wrong queue you should be at counter 6 etc…

So come Wednesday, brand new day, I leave home pretty early because I’d much rather watch paint dry than sit in my car and watch brake lights in front of me and smell exhaust fumes. I had to make one stop though which delayed me a little. I had a plan when I woke up, I said yesterday you were wound up and the only person who suffered was you, so today we have a whatever attitude, try as best as you can to get it done, if you cant, well it is what it is, cos at the end of the day the source of your angst feels nothing and you are the one in a horrible mood and you take it out on everyone else. Lesson of patience and humility so learnt! So that was it. Got to the embassy, same story queue, sent to the other counter, same woman, same stories, just searching for reasons to say no as opposed to helping me find solutions, knowing very well what the nature of the applicants was…I said to her ma’am I am not here to fight, it’s a cultural experience for these kids, no one gets paid, some of these kids have never left Gauteng let alone smell what an airport looks like, if its only 15 that can go so be it, but just help me and let me know what I need to do, all of a sardine attitude softens…foolish!! Anyway, so she found fault with 11 of them, same stuff and the funiest thing was one of them, they hadn’t put an x next to a question that asks if any of the family members had lived outside SA for more than 6 mths or something like that…anyway, after a little over an hr we were done and she said I should wait she has to go speak to her big boss, she came back I was prepared for anything, anyway she said I have news for you, I said you wont accept these 11, no worries, I’ll go tell them, no we taking them all, we will find a way to make it work. Go to the ABSA and get the cheque for the Visa forms, this was way after 10, she said don’t worry, I will tell the guards to let you in. Lesson, my attitude change, her attitude change.

So now off to the bank I go. My mind is made up that I am going to ABSA, the lady mentioned ABSA, the guards told me ABSA so I was going to ABSA. Just as I got to the mall I saw the good old big blue and it called me, something just called me to go there, and so I did. Whilst waiting in the queue, there was a gentleman in the front of the queue, as his turn came, he got asked to wait because someone else from the side was there before him, just had to go back, he smiled and returned to the queue, the other queue became open, no lies as he got there some other person came from leftfield, he returned to the queue and smiled, I passed a random comment to which he responded, boss its life, what are my options, I can get angry and raise my blood pressure (whilst the person behind the counter just carries on with life) or I can smile and just accept it and wait..i choose the latter because when it matters, I wont be judged on what he did to me, but how I reacted or related to him….deep. We engaged in a conversation but then his time came and so too mine, but I said I wanted to hear more, cos he looked and felt like an enlightened fellow.

Anyway so I went in paid for my cheque and got sent outside to wait for it. Fortunately the man was there waiting for me. We carried on the conversation and he reminded me of this life we lead. We oscillate between being worldly and trying to follow a principled life and how as life evolves we are so stuck in the instant gratification of materialism that we forget about being humans and doing the basic things, like respecting one another and being civil etc. It was such a deep conversation, one I would never have expected to have in a bank nogal, but, definitely one of those thank you God moments, when you realize that this life is good to you if you take the time to slow down and let it be. He wrote down a few things for me that I would like to share with you and here they are:

If you focus on the hereafter and life beyond yourself:
• You will be made magnanimous…an open giver;
• Difficult things will be made easy;
• The world will be forced to your feet
On the other hand if you work for the world and all its possessions:
• You will always be in want;
• Easy things will be made difficult
• You will get what is destined for you

Pretty deep I say, such an impact it had on me ☺

Birthdays
12th Bobz
13th Inge, Maud
14th Wardie, Coach, Will, Anoka
15th Goochie
16th Jedd, Maskew
18th Thulz, Chetan, Violet, Tahir
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Eid Mubarak and shana tova umetukah to my peoplz

Y
Mad respect always!!

All about me

Spring 2010, what a glorious day it was on the Highveld! The only thing that we needed less of up here was that disgusting layer of smog ☺ but alas, we best take the rough with the smooth not so?

A mate of mine usually has movie screenings at Atlas Studios every first Wednesday of the month. I have just come back from his latest screening, which was a documentary titled Driving with Fanon. Its shot in Freetown, Sierra Leone. It tells the tale of the war in Sierra Leone, using extracts of some of the work of philosopher, psychiatrist, revolutionary, Frantz Fanon as a backdrop. It’s a pretty interesting tale but what really got to me was the story it told, the story of the war, the story of normal people who took to arms because they had had it with governments corruption on all levels and apathy, the government’s constant and systematic attack on the media and journalists, the working class’ revolt. The result we all know was a 11 year conflict that saw many people lose their lives, lose their dignity, women raped, humans maimed and brutalized.

Now I am not saying that SA is at that point as a nation but we have a lot worse things going for us. In their situation it was just the haves and the have nots and the have nots getting increasingly disgruntled, throw in a little evil element, add a bit of greed and self purpose and whala, you have some of the most inhumane atrocities ever committed. But this is in my opinion, not just something that could happen over there, it could well easily happen over here too. We have a nation that is sooo racially fueled! We try and “pollyfiller” our societal mistrust behind one flag when it suits us, but As a nation, we don’t trust each other on the whole. We are just so violent and self serving. We have a case of someone beating another to death with his bare hands. Even though the course of events is not known many people will take sides based on race.

These last few weeks in South Africa have just highlighted how deep rooted and diverse our mistrust of each other is. The unions are striking and to be honest I believe there is more to it than just an extra 1% and R200 more on a housing subsidy. I am not in the shoes of the public servants so forgive me if I may seem to be trivializing the impact these 2 elements will make in their lives, but from where I sit it doesn’t make sense. I particularly snigger at the petrol attendants who want to go on strike…are they on tik? Do they not know that in many countries, the driver gets out of the car, puts in the petrol and pays for it. Their jobs could easily be done away with and then what???

I can’t help but think that there is more to this than just workers getting more money. I hear where they are coming from in light of some of the other things that are happening regarding governments insane expenditure, but I cant help but feel that the unions digging in their heels is a sign of the trade unions trying to show JZ and co who is really in charge. There are reports and rumblings that the youth league, SACP and COSATU are not exactly ecstatic about the goings on in government and the awarding of large contracts to friends and family of the big bosses of this land is driving a chasm between the ruling party and its allies and youth league.

Once again its all about the distrust of each other. How can it be that an alliance formed of 3 different entities can have one entity within it fighting against a system that they are such a big part of

As a firm proponent of true democracy I cannot help but feel disappointed that COPE is in such disarray, because this would have been the most opportune time for them to get their vote gathering campaign on the road, but alas they are fighting each other…I shake my head!!

I read an article on news24 the other day and its so so true and so indicative of where a lot of this country’s (world’s) citizens minds are. The title of the article is “The great SA dream is a nightmare”… http://www.news24.com/Columnists/ChrisMoerdyk/The-great-SA-dream-is-a-nightmare-20100830

All I can say is how true. We have all become so all about meee man. Many of us have felt the brunt of someone else who is all about me. Boyfriend/girlfriend who ventures out of the relationship because its all about what I want. A boss, colleague, business partner who promises much but delivers little, tries to take u for an idiot so they can get ahead, why cos its all about me. The writer makes reference to government, who are all appointed to serve the people yet they need to do it cruising in a BMW or Mercedes Benz, stay in the Michaelangelo, because its all about me and it will make sure I do my job better than if I was driving a 1400 bakkie, yet these self same people expect people to live off R4000 or so a month, live in squalor and take public transport that could be the death of them. A question that one might ask is how effective are a lot of these government officials in positions of power in delivering?

We have public servants striking when people are dying because what I want is more important. Public hospitals like Baragwanath that usually admits thousands of people a day, only admitted a couple of hundred or less last weekend. People are opting to stay home and some are dying, because, well because if they went to the hospitals there is no guarantee that they would be seen to, what a shame!!

Putting forward a protection of information bill because I don’t want you to know how im siphoning money for my personal benefit. Driving down the highway drunk at 150km/hr on my phone because I wanted to have a big party, I have a fast car and I want to get some action tonight, forget you sober person driving at 100km/h, who cares about your life.

The sad thing is that its not just a South African thing. We look at what happened with the financial industry crash a few months ago, just individuals looking out for numero uno.

We look at the US led war to Iraq, what for? 7 years later it ends with no victory, but plenty dead and lots of instability. Yes, one might argue they have the west’s version of democracy but this so called democracy has come at a huge price to the citizens of the land.

We have Michael Schumacher almost running Rubens into the wall, we have Pakistani cricketers throwing games.

Is this stuff normal? Is it just people who haven’t been successful at meaningfully screwing someone over or haven’t yet made their millions that see this as concerning for us as a people?

On the other side of the coin though there are a lot of people that still believe in the human race and are doing their little bit to make sure that we remember what I believe is one of the main reasons we are all on this earth, and that is to make a positive contribution to society. To the men and women out there who in the face of much temptation and provocation turn the other cheek and do the right thing. To those out there who when sitting on a bus and an old lady comes on board, they stand up and give her their seat. To those who help at hospitals when the nurses and doctors are striking. To those who rather take a taxi home when they have been drinking instead of being in a position to pay a bribe. To those who are true to their word…I salute you, and I for one strive to be more like you, especially in a world where its all about me!

Birthdays
22nd Rushda
23rd Jem
26th Gareth, Charl Lombard
29th Francois, Norm, Leila(lynn)
30th Benji
31st Melissa
2nd Gavin
3rd Stu, Wedders, JC

You all take care of yourselves and keep on keeping on. I am a strong believer in the triumph of the human spirit and the best way to make a change is to be that change…Gandhi said it best…be the change you want to see in the world. If you are happy with looting, killing and selfishness, well then you keep on, but if u believe that we can help each other be better people, well it starts with me doesn’t it?

Out of here

Y