As I am driving to work today listening to the news, I suddenly get very sad and actually have a toad in my throat, not sure why it gets to me more today than before, but the ANC and the ANC Youth League seem to be turning on each other, great, more rivals, factions, anger, violence, protests, just what we need right now.
I have this sudden urge to just pack up and leave, to leave now, this minute, before things in this beautiful country of ours get any worse, before my kids make any more friends, spend more time with granny's and grandpa's. Before my kids acquire an appreciation for many fine things in South Africa, things like the music of Laurika Rauch, those soulful lyrics written by her husband Chris Torr. Things like the witty writing of people like Koos Kombuis, in Afrikaans. Fine wines, the Drakensberg, Cape Town in any of the four seasons. Biltong, boerewors, bobotie, KWV Roodeberg. Yes I know they are only small, but goodness, leaving would deprive them of all of this. The things we love, the things we know.
How do you start over in another time, another place? Seriously, for 34 years I have lived in this country, breathed in the air, travelled to faraway corners, fallen in love with the people, the language, the way of life, the sense of humour. Starting over means that you really have no frame of reference for absolutely anything. You will not get the jokes, be moved by the music, have childhood memories (mostly fond ones) of the first time you ate something, went on a seaside holiday etc.
So really, why are we doing this, why would any person do this?
Then I turn the volume up a notch, the municipal workers have been striking and protesting, throwing cars with trash for the past two weeks. They demand a 20% salary increase, their employers (using my money) offers 6%.
The bus drivers are on strike, Gautrain (first world train system built with my tax money) is not running AGAIN due to cable theft. Julius Malema probably called someone (important) an imperialist and racist again. The Arch is demanding a once off wealth tax. The levels of illiteracy in our schools are at an all time low, yet we spend the most money per capita (worldwide) on education. We are probably days away from offering that friend of the struggle - Mohammed Gadaffi assylum in South Africa, why not, once again with my money.
What will become of my children if we stay? What will become of their mother if we leave.
"Should I stay or should I go now?"
Centurion
24 August 2011
As yet unpublished whilst I slowly simmer and make up my mind...
I have this sudden urge to just pack up and leave, to leave now, this minute, before things in this beautiful country of ours get any worse, before my kids make any more friends, spend more time with granny's and grandpa's. Before my kids acquire an appreciation for many fine things in South Africa, things like the music of Laurika Rauch, those soulful lyrics written by her husband Chris Torr. Things like the witty writing of people like Koos Kombuis, in Afrikaans. Fine wines, the Drakensberg, Cape Town in any of the four seasons. Biltong, boerewors, bobotie, KWV Roodeberg. Yes I know they are only small, but goodness, leaving would deprive them of all of this. The things we love, the things we know.
How do you start over in another time, another place? Seriously, for 34 years I have lived in this country, breathed in the air, travelled to faraway corners, fallen in love with the people, the language, the way of life, the sense of humour. Starting over means that you really have no frame of reference for absolutely anything. You will not get the jokes, be moved by the music, have childhood memories (mostly fond ones) of the first time you ate something, went on a seaside holiday etc.
So really, why are we doing this, why would any person do this?
Then I turn the volume up a notch, the municipal workers have been striking and protesting, throwing cars with trash for the past two weeks. They demand a 20% salary increase, their employers (using my money) offers 6%.
The bus drivers are on strike, Gautrain (first world train system built with my tax money) is not running AGAIN due to cable theft. Julius Malema probably called someone (important) an imperialist and racist again. The Arch is demanding a once off wealth tax. The levels of illiteracy in our schools are at an all time low, yet we spend the most money per capita (worldwide) on education. We are probably days away from offering that friend of the struggle - Mohammed Gadaffi assylum in South Africa, why not, once again with my money.
What will become of my children if we stay? What will become of their mother if we leave.
"Should I stay or should I go now?"
Centurion
24 August 2011
As yet unpublished whilst I slowly simmer and make up my mind...
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