Be enlightened or be quiet!

Like many countries, South Africa has terrible heavy vehicle accidents on the highways and byways. You can’t miss the news headlines: At least 3 killed on N3 truck accident; Bloody start to weekend after six killed in truck crash on KZN’s R56; Deadly KZN N3 pile-up … Other headlines read, South Africa: Deadly Attacks on Foreign Truck Drivers; ATDF Reveals That Truck Driver Who Caused An Accident Is A Foreigner; SA’s Operation Dudula targets foreign national drivers and companies that hire them after deadly crash kills 19 school kids …

Let us look at a few perceptions!

• All truck drivers are men.

Fact: Women also drive trucks – a small percentage that’s growing.

• Truck drivers are Black.

Fact: White people also drive trucks.

• Truck drivers are mostly foreigners.

Fact: There is a need for more truck drivers in South Africa. The question to ask is: Why?

• Truck drivers don’t care about the safety of other drivers.

Opinion: Do drivers, in general, care about the safety of others on the roads?

• Truck drivers drive recklessly.

Opinion: Who doesn’t? Take a day off, sit in your car in a parking lot at any mall, and observe!

Here’s a short analogy! 

Many people don’t trust truck drivers behind the wheel. They expect an accident to happen! To go a few steps further: When there’s a truck accident, it’s always the truck driver’s fault. The truck driver is guilty of the deaths of everyone in the accident. The children of truck drivers are also to blame for the accident and all the deaths and cannot be trusted behind the wheel of any vehicle because they have the same reckless genes as their truck-driving parents. 

Comparatively speaking, many Black people don’t trust White people. They expect them to behave in a racist way. To go a few steps further: when there is a White person in the room, it is always the White person’s fault when there’s an incident. Never mind whether the cashier was rude or the service was poor. The White person is not allowed to get angry. A Black woman can throw tantrums in shops, but not a White woman. The White person is guilty of whatever (always) because of Apartheid. The children of White people are also racist and to blame for Apartheid. And so, hate and division continue because of Apartheid.

Many will say: If there is any hate and division in South Africa, it’s caused by political parties that claim to stand for a united democratic country but show bias toward the White people of 2022! Do you agree? Well, someone needs to be blamed. Rather than taking ownership of our own bias, let us point fingers. Read that again if you must.

Then along comes Charlize Theron or Their-In to fuel the South African fires of disparagement. Who? Charlize T’ron ... the pretty, tall, South African American White actress who has disowned her heritage.

Ironically, the thoughtless actions of companies and people like Dis-Chem and Charlize Theron bring people together! Did you see who stood up to Charlize? Imagine what this country could become if we all stood together without bias.

I won’t waste my time with bias or Charlize’s choice of 44 and her impression that the language is useless. We all know Charlize’s words are not based on facts. But I would like to spend a few minutes saying something about Afrikaans being a bastardized language. No one seems to have given attention to this statement by Charlize Theron! Is this perhaps because people believe it to be true. 

Yes! Afrikaans is an amalgam of Dutch, French, German, English, and the four Khoekhoe-branch languages, Nama, Kora, Cape Khoekhoe, and Eastern Khoekhoe. Regarding the latter four, you will find words in Afrikaans that originate from these languages. For example, there are plants with names originating from Nama, like the noenieboom, gharrabessie, and gonnabos.

Now, let us focus our attention with particular pride on how languages evolve. In the same way plants adapt, all languages adjust to environmental conditions over time and engage in slow and regular change processes. We think of the Romance languages derived from Latin (Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, etc.), the Germanic languages and their offshoots, and the derivations of Arabic, Chinese, Indian, and languages of Asia, Micronesia, Africa, and the Americas. Whenever dialects and languages are cut off geographically, they will form entirely new languages. A good example is a unique Afrikaans dialect in Patagonia, Argentina. 

Of course, we may be influenced to look at ourselves as bastard people with a bastard language, as Breyton Breytenbach described us, rather than a nation and language that has evolved (come into existence through the processes of change). If we believe this bastard business, we are nothing better than Charlize Theron, and we will continue to be grossly disrespectful of who we are.

Should we ever decide to look at the Afrikaner’s evolution, let us do the same regarding the modern Xhosa, Tswana, Pedi, and every other nationality of the rainbow nation. Let us sit down and scrutinize the migration, dispersion, fission, wars, and settlements of South Africa’s people and carefully study the tremendous impact of Western culture on traditional African society. Let us be enlightened!

When enlightened, we can sit down, open our mouths, and speak! Until then, lest we don’t want to look like idiots, we should be quiet about the Afrikaans language!

How I started earning pennies!

Yes! The title is correct. I started my own business and now earn pennies! And every penny pays something.

What led to this initiative?

I retired at the end of February (ill health) and lost two-thirds of my monthly income. So, I needed to find a way to earn more money. At age 57, I’m not keen to educate myself to do things – especially things I’ve never done before. Regardless, I had little choice! 

Was I motivated?

Earning is a product of learning! As a teacher, I did this for more than 30 years. I knew that starting my own business would put me a few (plus/minus a thousand) lessons away from earning money.

My field of expertise

I can teach! I can also write stories and poems. But I don’t have a creative (entrepreneurial) brain to invent or discover or elonmusk my way to great fortunes. Hence, the pennies!

How did I do it?

Phase 1

I created a website! I had an idea and put everything into the website. Of course, it took me more time to delete than create, but I eventually did it! 

Phase 2

Once the website was ready and available, I used social media (okay, more specifically, Facebook) to attract clients. 

The outcome

Within the first month, I made R250. My income increased to R750 by the end of my second month, and in my third month, I made R1550.

I know what you’re thinking! It would be better if each figure had more zeros at the end. I suppose you could look at it from that angle, but I see it more positively. Initially, I had nothing! Three months later, I had more than zero in my pocket. I’m proud of what I have achieved. Going from zero to hero (R1550) in 90 days was a fantastic accomplishment!

What did I experience?

We make choices every day. We can sit back, complain, blame the world for our situation, or get up and find a way to change it! Doing something is better than doing nothing. In my case, the word “try” didn’t exist. It’s a word people use when they: i) expect things to go wrong, ii) plan to fail, and iii) rely on excuses rather than effort. I never once said I would try to make a website, find clients, and earn money! From the word go, there was no option. I was set on making a website, finding clients, and earning money! And none of it was a picnic! The website was a two-month/60-day nightmare, and finding clients was a humbling experience because there are rude people out there. In the end, earning money, even if only pennies, was a well-deserved reward! 

Is there a lesson to be taught?

There’s nothing wrong with working for a living!

 

Stillness, but I’m still breathing!

It has been several months of stillness, but I’m still breathing. I may not have written about my experience living on the West Coast of South Africa, but I continue to live my purpose: to live my life to the best of my ability and to do good. 

If you’ve read my blog, you’ll know moving for me is a very traumatic experience. I don’t like change, and I don’t like the unknown. The fear has always been about losing what I have. An old saying fuels this fear: You know what you have but don’t know what you’ll get. Of course, I’ve moved many times, and I still believe the worst move ever was from Bulawayo to Witbank in 1980. This does not make my most recent move seem less traumatic. Trauma is trauma. It wasn’t easy to leave the bushveld in Limpopo after living there for over 21 years. I was leaving behind so many memories and close friends. What made the move harder was the fact that I was already traumatised. I was going through two stages of loss: the loss of my health and career and the double loss of my brother (death) and mother (she moved away). 

My desire to move to the West Coast started when I stopped teaching on 7 October 2020. During the time I was waiting for my retirement to take effect, I mostly stayed at home. There were a few occasions when I went out for tea with a dear friend, had my hair and nails done, or visited various doctors and therapists, which was required for the ill-health retirement application. I also cleaned the house, removing everything I didn’t want anymore. I was experiencing the same stages one goes through when dealing with grief: shock and denial, pain and guilt, anger, depression and loneliness, adjustment, reconstruction, and acceptance and hope.

I was still trying to cope with my newly diagnosed illness and the end of my career when my brother died on 25 October 2021. Both my mother and brother were living with me at the time. My mother moved in November to live with my sister on the West Coast. It was a united decision that she move away from the place of trauma. With my brother and mother gone, the house was too big, and the emptiness made me more determined to move. So, I started packing in December. I wrote the following poem about my mother’s move to help me cope at the time:
 
Parting with Mother (76)
 
Feet follow swiftly ghost trails of habit
To stand at Mother’s closed door
With news of something insignificant –
But she’s not there anymore.
 
A seven-year rhythm was established
For a heart wanting to share;
I’m left alone to ponder loss again
And left in total despair.
 
I quietly question life’s teachings and
Reflect on what’s left behind;
I consider the paths ahead of me
And the lessons undefined.
 
Moving forward with courage overwhelms –
The school of life has taught this once before; 
I’m shaped and fashioned to wait for the day
To walk again through her door.

At the end of February 2022, we finally moved, and we’ve been on the West Coast for six months.

Why haven’t I written about my life on the West Coast? After all, the move has done me well, and I live in a beautiful part of the country. Simply put, I haven’t been writing because all the trauma has had me hiding from and fearing many things. As a result of my illness and death in the family, I have become more aware of my mortality, and now that I’m here, I’m trying to keep my health a priority. I’m taking beach walks and resting. This helps in many ways to keep the ghosts of the past from staying too long to haunt me and gnaw away at my sanity, especially when I move through the stage of denial. I’ve stopped trying to figure out where my health went wrong because I’m focusing on acceptance. My illness is hereditary. Nothing I could change in the past would have prevented the illness and saved my health. Of course, it’s not only the stage of denial that repeats. The other stages of grief for loss are all cycles of my life, and each stage can last a while or pass quickly. Still … the healing has begun. Everything is new and fresh and makes it easier for me to let go and move forward. I’m processing, processing, processing. And I’m getting there.

The sand of my mind-dunes is shifting every day! I’m learning to keep the doors closed that I’ve already closed. I’m learning to stop rewriting the chapters of the past that have already been written. The stillness will probably continue for a while because I have no desire to blog or write another novel. And today, I just needed to share what is going on in my life.        

From my novel: The Power is Yours

 

Chapter 3 Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honourable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

You can’t have a successful future if you don’t know why you are here. Remember: you are amazing. You are also unique. What you have to offer the world is rare, and that adds value to who you are.

You weren’t born by accident. It doesn’t matter who your parents are or what the reason is that led to your birth. If your birth was not meant to be, you would not be here now. Surviving nine months of pregnancy, birth and life up to this point is purposeful. Yes! Knowing that you are here, alive, and able to do something means that you are living a life of purpose.

Everyone on earth has the purpose to survive the onslaught of life’s experiences and continue living. Everyone on earth has the purpose to share their experiences and act as an example for others who may be experiencing similar things. Everyone on earth has the purpose to contribute to and enhance society.

Your purpose here on earth is to survive, continue living, and contribute to society to make it better.

You may ask: “How can I survive each day and remain worthy so that I can continue living and contribute to society to make it better?” You cannot do it on your own. That’s why so many people fall apart. They’re trying to exist independently.

God created you for His glory. To glorify Him means that you have to acknowledge Him as your Creator, and praise and worship Him every day. He’s not your Sunday-God. He’s your Every-Day-God. The further you are from Him, the smaller He measures in your life. The closer you are to Him, you will realize that He is big, and strong, and mighty.

You fulfil your purpose of glorifying God by living your life in a relationship and faithful service to Him every day. Since God created you and endowed you with a measure of His qualities, your purpose on earth cannot be fulfilled apart from Him. Knowing God and making Him an important part of your life will benefit you. 2 Peter 1:2 (NLT) says: “May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.” Include Him in your daily life. Build a solid relationship with Him so that all your relationships here on earth will be built on that foundation.

It takes faith to find your purpose.

People who walk in faith believe they have a purpose in life. You, too, have a purpose in life. God has amazing plans for you. In Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NIV), it reads: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.’” Seek Him and acknowledge that He is in control. He is the One who has plans for you. Why, then, do you worry?

Those people who are inclined to believe that their purpose on earth is to pursue fortune and fame are the ones who focus on social power and lead a life of materialism. Your life should be based on spirituality. Focus your attention on God and His purpose for you. If you can believe in things you cannot see, you have faith, and faith can move mountains. The amount of faith you put out there in the world is the amount of energy that will be returned to you. In Matthew 17:20 (NLT), Jesus explains it so beautifully: “You don’t have enough faith … I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’, and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”

You are a source of abundant energy.

Because you are a source of abundant energy, your quest to survive, continue living and contribute to society is energy-driven. Your passion in life is linked to all your energy. If you are passionate in life, you will have an abundance of healthy energy and you will be able to contribute your energy and passion to society. By focusing on all your strengths, you will have a positive attitude, and your contribution will enhance the society in which you live. Of course, you cannot ignore your weaknesses. You have to recognize and address them so that you can continue to grow as a healthy and energetic person.

Many people become obsessed with looking for their purpose in life. Many feel their life is worthless because they haven’t found their purpose. The truth is that there is no perfect well-defined purpose, so don’t waste your time looking for one. In Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV), we read:  “Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” These two commandments are purposeful. Just being here now, loving God, loving yourself, and loving your neighbour is purposeful. And who is your neighbour? Everyone you interact with.

Even if you don’t understand why you are here or what you are supposed to do, remember one important thing: your whole life is a big picture. Living in the moment means you can only see part of your life’s picture. By living in the moment and living to your full potential, you can contribute purposefully to the bigger picture. God is in control of your life picture. So, you can let go of the reigns. Focus all your energy on the here and now rather than the past or the future. This will ensure happiness.

Happiness is made up of small fractions of seconds.

You live now! Everything you do and experience now should make you happy. If you can focus on making the present moment worthwhile, you’ll be creating beautiful memories and you’ll be securing a better future for yourself and for the people who are a part of your life.

How can you make the present moment worthwhile? Focus on breathing when there’s chaos. Take a literal step back and observe what is happening around you. Focus on others rather than yourself. God didn’t add another day in your life because you alone need it. He added it because someone else also needs you in their life. Yes! Somebody needs you to be there for them. Look around you. The world is full of self-obsessed people who are egocentric and selfish. Step out of that crowd. Be different.

Purpose can be seen in the ability to reach out and contribute to others, helping them and trying to make a positive difference in their lives. While it may not seem as if you’re making a difference, in the future, you will have played a significant part for something or someone else. All the choices you make now will impact not only your future, but also the future of others. Fred Rogers said, “If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.” Your value is raised when the impression you make or leave with others is good.

You rub off on others just as much as they rub off on you.

The more time you spend with specific people, the more opportunity you get to accept their habits and ways of thinking. Through observation and listening, you become them. The same can be said about them: they become you. The lesson here is given in 1 Corinthians 15:33 (NIV): “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character’”. Choose the people you spend time with wisely.

Every day, while you focus on other people, helping and motivating them, it’s important to take responsibility for your actions. For example, if you work hard and earn a lot of money, your purpose is not to give your money to people who are suffering financially. These people are suffering for a purpose that has nothing to do with your purpose. You can listen to them compassionately and motivate or encourage them, but it is not your responsibility to support them financially. You need to help them realize that they need to set goals in life like you did. They need to work hard to achieve their goals, and change their attitude and become positive, like you did. It is also not your responsibility to help others on their happiness journey – especially not when it is at the cost of your own happiness.

How then can you help others? Dave Willis said, “Show respect even to people who don’t deserve it; not as a reflection of their character, but as a reflection of yours.” Do good deeds! Listen to people and show an interest in them. By doing this, you are already doing something profound. People don’t really listen anymore, do they? They don’t show an interest in others, do they? You can! Be the one who comforts, advises, motivates, encourages and sets an example of optimism. Keep the balance, though.

Don’t ever sacrifice your time and energy to such an extent that you are left feeling drained. Try and be there for specific people. You can’t be there for everyone. Those who have a tendency to drain you are the pessimistic ones who will never change, simply because they do not desire to change. They are the people who enjoy being victims of their own circumstances and will only bring you down. So, it’s best to walk away from them rather than exert yourself over and over again. There are many people out there who are more deserving and will appreciate your help. If you let people walk all over you, you teach them (as well as yourself) that you approve. So, don’t allow people to walk all over you!

No-one and nothing in life stays the same.

As you continue to move forward on a daily basis, your perspectives and relationships in life will change and so too your purpose. The same can be said about other people. Learn to be prepared for change. Yes! You will continue contributing, but when change occurs, you must be flexible in your thoughts and actions. When people leave, or circumstances change, be prepared for it. New paths and new opportunities emerge every day, not just for you but also for other people. When relationships like friendships become strained because change has occurred, you should rely on your inner strength to let go. There’s no use in holding on to something that simply doesn’t work.

While you are here, live your unique and amazing life to the best of your ability. Work on being healthy. Work on being positive. Work on being energetic, passionate, happy and satisfied. Everything you need in life is within you, so spend some ‘alone’ time with yourself and get to know yourself. This is important because your feelings and desires drive you. Learn to understand your feelings and desires. Spend time with God every day so that your purpose is always aligned with His purpose for you. In doing so, you will learn the value of love, His greatest gift to you. 1 Corinthians 13: 2-3 (HCSB) says: “If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

If you take action on what you feel or desire, without analyzing or criticizing it to death, you can easily identify your purpose (what you want to do every day and how you want to contribute to society). When your feelings and desires are negative, it is important to avoid reacting to them. A negative attitude and negative thoughts attract negative things. A positive attitude and positive thoughts attract positive things. So, focus on positive thoughts and things.

 

Raise your head and believe in your inner power

It's impossible to fathom the power within you. It doesn't matter if you fall or fail. Whatever seems to break you or crack you open is the very thing that teaches you a valuable life skill. No matter how long it takes, learning from it is not a sign of weakness; it's a sign of growth.

 

Surfacing after sinking

Today I surface for the first time in several days with new hope to move forward. The power of gratitude has been instrumental in helping me find a new path to survival.

It doesn’t often happen that I plunge into darkness. Even though I’m constantly aware of the abyss, writing always soothes me and helps me cope, but lately, I find writing to be the last thing I want to do. As soon as I begin writing, I lose interest. It’s as if I’m feeding whatever drags me to the edge unknowingly. And yes! This time, I not only made it to the edge! I toppled over into the pit of depression.  

The fight within wasn’t there for the first few days. No matter! I’ve surfaced, and that’s all that really counts.

I found this on Facebook today, and it made me decide to sit down and write and push through until I have something concrete to share! So, here’s another blog entry with a little more than just my own work to share.

Reflections of Me

As I sit here with my memories and wonder how I survived. The love I thought would be mine forever was lost. In what seemed to be in an instant, you changed into someone I did not recognize. And yet, all I can see are the "Reflections of Me" that you said made you change.

The hands that once caressed me, soon created pain. The voice that was soothing with the sound of love, would scream with hate. The eyes that held the look of love, were filled with contempt. The heart that was once mine, would beat for another.

The changes that you say I caused, you made sure you reminded me of them everyday. Me, the unworthy, the one who doesn't deserve you. Yes, I see the "Reflections of Me" through your eyes but one day you will see the "Reflections of You" in mine, and then you will see who was the unworthy one.

Margie Watts ©

What I’ve learned from this Facebook post is this:

We all have our own burdens to bear, and we all struggle to survive. We are empowered when we read about another person’s hardship and inner strength to move forward.  

In the end, it starts with us!

I started teaching in 1988. I spent the first term in a Grade 1 classroom, and for the rest of the year, I was in a special education classroom with learners aged 6 to 13.  Was this a problem for me? No. I understood inclusivity through the teachings of my parents long before the 1994 democratic government introduced it in schools. 

My father was in the Rhodesian and South African armies and was transferred every three years (except from 1975 to 1980 – our most extended stay in one place). We bounced between Harare and Bulawayo and, after returning to South Africa, bounced between Heidelberg and Potchefstroom. 

While I didn't grow up in South Africa, my Afrikaans parents made me aware of my home country. So, clearly, I knew I was an Afrikaans South African living in Rhodesia. Attending school from the age of three, and spending more time speaking English, I soon forgot how to speak my home language properly. Regardless, I never forgot my roots; I knew I was different. With this awareness, every experience in Rhodesia taught me to respect differences and support and promote equal opportunities for people to grow and excel in one way or another. For example, I enjoyed eating sadza and marog or chicken feet with our domestic worker outside her kaya (room) in Harare when I was about eight years old. When I was in primary school in Bulawayo, my friends and I sometimes played soccer with black army soldiers after four o'clock in the afternoon. We had to climb down a manhole and run along water pipes to enter the army grounds. They always waited for us. It made us feel liberated and we had respect for them. In my Home Economics practical cooking class, I was teamed up with an Indian girl, and I learned a lot from her and because of her.  

When we returned to South Africa in 1980, I couldn't write or read Afrikaans. My spoken attempt was rather amusing to Afrikaans people. From 1980 through 1984, my struggle was to learn how to read, write and speak the language. The breakthrough came when I decided to enrol at an Afrikaans educational institution in Potchefstroom to study teaching. Failure has never been an option for me. Hard work and commitment helped me to successfully pass four years of studying in Afrikaans for my teaching qualification. 

Moving from Rhodesia to South Africa was an incredible culture shock, but I immersed myself in the change and tried my best to adapt. But this is the thing about adapting to change. We encounter a new culture, whether we enter a new school, business, town, country, continent, religion, or community. From personal experience, it takes three to five years to adapt to a new culture, which means I never truly settled in any of the environments I experienced as a child or teenager. I was permanently on the move. Throughout my adult years, I mentally anticipated change long before the necessity for change was born. And quite often, I'm sure, I initiated the time for a change. But I was permanently aware of the possibility of change, and I embraced it. Not all the changes that occurred were welcomed, so I suffered many times. Needless to say, I was aware – more aware than those who didn't experience or understand change. Many people go to one primary and one high school and live in one house for eighteen years. 

I woke up this morning and thought about change and adapting to this new town that I'm now living in, which inspired the rambling of my mind. I've been here for almost three months and I'm shocked at how people in this area treat others. The corruption, the injustice, the naming and shaming, the complaining, the status orientation, the almost narcissistic love of self-opinion, and the prejudice of the people are unacceptable. But, we can say this about many, many people in many, many places. We only need to read the comments on social media to see how prejudiced and rude people can be.

All this made me think of a way forward. For South Africans, perhaps, we should go back and reflect on what Nelson Mandela said in his inauguration speech in 1994. 

That spiritual and physical oneness we all share with this common homeland explains the depth of the pain we all carried in our hearts as we saw our country tear itself apart in a terrible conflict, and as we saw it spurned, outlawed and isolated by the peoples of the world, precisely because it has become the universal base of the pernicious ideology and practice of racism and racial oppression.

We carry pain in our hearts because still our country is torn apart in terrible conflict. We were internationally spurned, outlawed and isolated because of apartheid. But today, we are nationally spurned, outlawed and isolated because of division within our own country by our own people. 

We thank all our distinguished international guests … We trust that you will continue to stand by us as we tackle the challenges of building peace, prosperity, non-sexism, non-racialism and democracy. 

Our own government cannot tackle the challenges of building peace, prosperity, non-sexism, non-racialism and democracy. How can we expect the world to support us? How can we expect our government to do so if we can't live in peace with the people around us? We even abuse strangers (social media)!

The time for the healing of the wounds has come. 

With change and moving on to something new, there must always be a time for healing. Keeping in mind that healing is a process, we must acknowledge that we all differ and heal in our own time. The democratic government promised liberation for those in the bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination. Do we feel liberated? Do we allow others to feel liberated? Since it's always just about us, and our opinion is all that matters, when do others get a chance to be themselves or give an opinion?

The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come. 

Suppose the new government had a plan for all its people, e.g. the white people of South Africa (including me, who did not grow up in the South African apartheid system). How did any of their actions bridge the chasms that divide us? Here I can go on to write in length about division because we tend to look at the discrimination of race in South Africa. Yet, we forget that we discriminate daily within our own cultures. We discriminate on so many levels that prejudice has become our daily food. Are we acting in such a way that we bridge chasms that divide? 

The time to build is upon us. 

Here, in a country falling apart, I must first analyse the world "build" to understand what the democratic government has built for those who suffered in the past during apartheid. The bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, and discrimination continues with our government's education system. Is it better to have more uneducated sheep follow an ailing government than an educated nation?

Out of the experience of and extraordinary human disaster that lasted too long, must be born a society of which all humanity will be proud. Our daily deeds as ordinary South Africans must produce an actual South African reality that will reinforce humanity's belief in justice, strengthen its confidence in the nobility of the human soul and sustain all our hopes for glorious life for all.

No one alive today owns the soil of the earth. The land belongs to God. By His Grace and Mercy, we are alive today. Let me talk about human disaster and pride! No one can tell me, born a white woman in South Africa, that I must leave the country and go back to the place from where my forefathers came because Africa doesn't belong to the white people. If I honestly had to do the maths, nearly three hundred years have passed since the day my forefathers landed on this continent. Or do I trace myself back to the day the Ark landed? What is this mentality of judging people according to their forefathers' actions? What is this mentality of ownership? Does this have something to do with ownership or power? The One who owns Africa is the One who has exclusive rights and control over it, and He will not ask me to leave the country where I was born. But people are arrogant and feel powerful through status! What constant need do people have to feel important and receive respect and admiration because of their identity, be it a surname, religion, nationality or financial wealth, etc.? If only we could be utterly unmoved by badges of hierarchy, of mitres and crooks and crowns. If only we could be satisfied with who we are and what we accomplish. We can still be competitive but in a healthy way. There's nothing wrong with striving to achieve more and better, but how we go about it and how we respond to our achievements make the difference. 

We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity - a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.
…
Let there be justice for all.
Let there be peace for all.
Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.
…
Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world. Let freedom reign. The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement!
God bless Africa!

It's important to understand that we don't have to suffer first to be humble and live simply! We are challenged on a daily basis, but every challenge is an opportunity for growth! Growth should be seen as a journey to self-discovery and self-love. When we pay attention to our flaws and act upon them with the intention to improve, we benefit ourselves and society. When we learn to accept our imperfect selves, physically, and the path we walk through life, we benefit ourselves and society. And this is what we should focus on: Do good to benefit ourselves AND society! 

… each one of us is as intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the mimosa trees of the bushveld. Each time one of us touches the soil of this land, we feel a sense of personal renewal. The national mood changes as the seasons change. We are moved by a sense of joy and exhilaration when the grass turns green, and the flowers bloom.

When we are born in a place, we breathe in its air. Growing up in a place is our experience and forms the knowledge we have. We can immigrate, but we will never forget where we were born and raised. 

We succeeded to take our last steps to freedom in conditions of relative peace. We commit ourselves to the construction of a complete, just and lasting peace. We have triumphed in the effort to implant hope in the breasts of the million of our people. 

We are not building a society that walks tall without fear in its heart. Everyone has the right to human dignity, but we don't treat people well.

We understand it still that there is no easy road to freedom.

In the end, it begins with us, and it starts in the heart. Freedom begins where prejudice ends. Prejudice will never end because each one of us has an imperfect perception. We are prejudiced on political affiliation, sex, gender, gender identity, beliefs, values, social class, age, disability, religion, sexuality, race, ethnicity, language, nationality, culture, complexion, beauty, height, occupation, wealth, education, criminality, sport-team affiliation, music tastes or other personal characteristics.

Enough of the negativity! Enough with the demolition-ball activities. 

We can move forward if we reduce the hate and anger we carry within us and start building on love, forgiveness, and empathy.

The journey of my life has turned out exactly the way it should. Since I was born, every choice my parents or I made was based on imperfect prior knowledge and past experiences. At the time, we didn't know better, so we couldn't have made better decisions. I have tried to walk the straight and narrow path and do good throughout my life, and I did it imperfectly. I am grateful for what I have accomplished. I will continue to show empathy for my fellow man, but I seriously need to work harder on self-love.

Just be!

When we look at each other with wonder, we will stand in awe of what God has made.
Ignore the flaws.
Ignore the talents.
Ignore the things that stir our own emotions.
Just be amazed at the human, the person, the existence.
When we understand that our purpose here on earth is to exist and continually strive for survival, we will be at rest with everything else.
Do you have an eye to bear witness? You have a purpose.
Do you have an ear to hear? You have a purpose.
Do you have a mouth to speak, arms and hands to work, legs and feet to move, a heart that feels, and a mind that thinks? You have a purpose.
Stop wondering why you are here.
Stop wondering what your purpose in life is ... or should be.
Just be.
Teach others to be.
In being, you are living your purpose.
Use what you have to enhance the community in which you live without the need for recognition.
Tomorrow, or the next day, when you are no longer here, when your existence on earth has ended, when you no longer have a purpose on earth, you will no longer be recognised.
Remembered? Perhaps.
Forgotten? Perhaps.
Recognised? ...
Forget the need to constantly be in the spotlight.
Forget the need to be rewarded.
Stop worrying about being loved, honoured, and respected.
JUST BE!

From my novel: The Power is Yours

Chapter 4 An inestimable gift of love

What you have to offer the world is rare and that adds value to who you are.

You weren’t born by accident. It doesn’t matter who your parents are or what the reason is that led to your birth. If your birth was not meant to be, you would not be here now. Surviving nine months of pregnancy, birth and life up to this point is purposeful. Yes! Knowing that you are here, alive and able to do something means that you are living a life of purpose.

Everyone on earth has the purpose to survive the onslaught of life’s experiences and continue living. Everyone on earth has the purpose of sharing their experiences and acting as an example for others who may be experiencing similar things. Everyone on earth has the purpose to contribute to and enhance society.

Your purpose here on earth is to survive, to continue living and to contribute to society to make it better.

You may ask: “How can I survive each day and remain worthy so that I can continue living and contribute to society to make it better?” You cannot do it on your own. That’s why so many people fall apart. They’re trying to exist independently.

God created you for His glory. To glorify Him means that you have to acknowledge Him as your Creator, and praise and worship Him every day. He’s not your Sunday-God. He’s your every-day-God. The further you are from Him, the smaller He measures in your life. The closer you are to Him, you will realise that He is big and strong and mighty.

You fulfil your purpose of glorifying God by living your life in relationship and faithful service to Him every day. Since God created you and endowed you with a measure of His qualities, your purpose on earth cannot be fulfilled apart from Him. Knowing God and making Him an important part of your life will benefit you. 2 Peter 1:2 (NLT) says: “May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.” Include Him in your daily life. Build a solid relationship with Him to build all your relationships here on earth on that foundation.

It takes faith to find your purpose.

People who walk in faith believe they have a purpose in life. You, too, have a purpose in life. God has amazing plans for you. In Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NIV), it reads: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.’” Seek Him and acknowledge that He is in control. He is the One who has plans for you. Why, then, do you worry? 

Those people who are inclined to believe that their purpose on earth is to pursue fortune and fame are the ones who lead a life of materialism. Your life should be based on spirituality. Focus your attention on God and His purpose for you. If you can believe in things you cannot see, you have faith and faith can move mountains. The amount of faith that you put out there in the world is the amount of energy that will be returned to you. In Matthew 17:20 (NLT), Jesus explains it so beautifully: “You don't have enough faith … I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’, and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”

You are a source of abundant energy.

Because you are a source of abundant energy, your quest to survive, continue living and contribute to society is energy-driven. Your passion in life is linked to all your energy. If you are passionate in life, you will have an abundance of healthy energy and you will be able to contribute your energy and passion to society. By focusing on all your strengths, you will have a positive attitude, and your contribution will enhance the society in which you live. Of course, you cannot ignore your weaknesses. You have to recognise and address them to continue to grow as a healthy and energetic person.

Many people become obsessed with looking for their purpose in life. Many feel that their life is worthless because they haven't found their purpose. The truth is that there is no perfect well-defined purpose, so don’t waste your time looking for one. Just being here now is purposeful. Even if you don’t understand why you are here or what you are supposed to do, remember one important thing: your whole life is a big picture. Living in the moment means you can only see part of your life’s picture.

By living in the moment and living to your full potential, you can contribute purposefully to the bigger picture. God is in control of your life picture. So, you can let go of the reigns. Focus all your energy on the here and now rather than the past or the future. This will ensure happiness.

Happiness is made up of small fractions of seconds. 

You live now! Everything you do and experience now should make you happy. If you can focus on making the present moment worthwhile, you’ll be creating beautiful memories, and you’ll be securing a better future for yourself and for the people who are a part of your life.

How can you make the present moment worthwhile? Focus on breathing when there’s chaos. Take a literal step back and observe what is happening around you. Focus on others rather than yourself. God didn't add another day in your life because you alone need it. He added it because someone else also needs you in their life. Yes! Someone needs you to be there for them. Look around you. The world is full of self-obsessed people who are egocentric and selfish. Step out of that crowd. Be different.

Purpose can be seen in the ability to reach out and contribute to others, helping them and trying to make a positive difference in their lives. While it may not seem as if you’re making a difference, in the future, you will have played a significant part in something or someone else. All the choices you make now will impact not only your future but also the future of others. Fred Rogers said, “If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.” Your value is raised when the impression you make or leave with others is good.

 You rub off on others just as much as they rub off on you.

The more time you spend with specific people, the more opportunity you get to accept their habits and ways of thinking. Through observation and listening, you become them. The same can be said about them: they become you. The lesson here is given in 1 Corinthians 15:33 (NIV): “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character’”. Choose the people you spend time with wisely.

Every day, while you focus on other people, helping and motivating them, it’s important to take responsibility for your actions. For example, if you work hard and earn a lot of money, your purpose is not to give your money to people who are suffering financially. These people are suffering for a purpose that has nothing to do with your purpose. You can listen to them compassionately and motivate or encourage them, but it is not your responsibility to support them financially. You need to help them realize that they need to set goals in life like you did. They need to work hard to achieve their goals, change their attitude and become positive like you did. It is also not your responsibility to help others on their happiness journey – especially not when it is at the cost of your own happiness.

How then can you help others? Dave Willis said, “Show respect even to people who don’t deserve it; not as a reflection of their character, but as a reflection of yours.” Do good deeds! Listen to people and show an interest in them. By doing this, you are already doing something profound. People don’t really listen anymore, do they? They don’t show any interest in others, do they? You can! Be the one who comforts, advises, motivates, encourages and sets an example of optimism. Keep the balance, though.

Don’t ever sacrifice your time and energy to such an extent that you feel drained. Try and be there for specific people. You can’t be there for everyone. Those who have a tendency to drain you are the pessimistic ones who will never change, simply because they do not desire to change. They are the people who enjoy being victims of their own circumstances and will only bring you down. So, it’s best to walk away from them rather than exert yourself over and over again. Many people out there are more deserving and will appreciate your help. If you let people walk all over you, you teach them (and yourself) that you approve. So, don’t allow people to walk all over you! 

No one and nothing in life stay the same.

As you continue to move forward on a daily basis, your perspectives and relationships in life will change, and so too your purpose. The same can be said about other people. Learn to be prepared for change. Yes! You will continue contributing, but you need to be flexible in your thoughts and actions when change occurs. When people leave, or circumstances change, be prepared for it. New paths and new opportunities emerge every day, not just for you but also for other people. When relationships like friendships become strained because of change, you should rely on your inner strength to let go. There’s no use in holding on to something that simply doesn’t work.

While you are here, live your unique and amazing life to the best of your ability. Work on being healthy. Work on being positive. Work on being energetic, passionate, happy and satisfied. Everything you need in life is within you, so spend some ‘alone’ time with yourself and get to know yourself. This is important because your feelings and desires drive you. Learn to understand your feelings and desires. Spend time with God every day so that your purpose is always aligned with His purpose for you. In doing so, you will learn the value of love, His greatest gift to you. 1 Corinthians 13: 2-3 (HCSB) says: “If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

Take action on what you feel or desire without analysing or criticising it to death. You can easily identify your purpose (what you want to do every day and how you want to contribute to society). When your feelings and desires are negative, it is important to avoid reacting to them. A negative attitude and negative thoughts attract negative things. A positive attitude and positive thoughts attract positive things. So, focus on positive thoughts and things.

 

 

From my novel: The Power is Yours

Chapter 2 Pressing toward the goal

Many people regret the present moment and yearn for the past or future. They either live in the past, wishing they could turn back the hands of time, or they spend their time hoping for a better life in the future. If you start living each day in the present, you can make sense of your life.

Paulo Coelho describes the problem beautifully: “We have enormous difficulty in focusing on the present; we’re always thinking about what we did, about how we could have done it better, about the consequences of our actions, and about why we didn’t act as we should have. Or else, we think about the future, what we’re going to do tomorrow, what precautions we should take, what dangers await us around the next corner, how to avoid what we don’t want and how to get what we have always dreamed of.”

Are you living in the past, or are you waiting in great anticipation for your future? What about now? Isn’t the present moment important, too? According to Mahatma Gandhi, “The future depends on what you do today.” Yes! Every thought, decision or action today impacts your present and your future. Are you focused on the here and now?

You alone have the power to make good or bad decisions.

Your life decisions are influenced by the present moment and the people who are with you at the time. You must decide who or what is guiding you to make your decisions because each decision you make affects your plans and mood. Decisions determine whether you will be happy or disappointed. If you make bad decisions, you will experience adverse outcomes, but good decisions will lead to a successful future.  

The question is: How do you make decisions? Do you make them independently or allow others to help you? Do you make decisions that are best for you, or do you make decisions that please others? Do you fear that every decision you make may be a wrong one? Or do you prefer not to make decisions and allow them to be made for you?

Every moment of your life defines you.

You are who you are in each living moment. The decisions you make may stretch across many moments, but the minute you make the decision, you create a new direction. Even when the decision turns out to have been a mistake and the outcome is negative, it doesn’t have to stay that way. You may have taken the wrong path, but it’s a learning process, and you can turn it around.

At some point in the future, you may discover that a choice you made in the past is not what you planned or wanted. You needn’t regret it, though. Don’t focus on the choice as a mistake and don’t dwell on the time that’s been lost. Focus on the process of learning that came from the experience. You have grown because of it. If you never make mistakes, how will you ever learn or change?

Choices always lead to new opportunities.

Your decisions can be average and ordinary, or they can be life-changing. Joel Osteen said, “If you think you’re average, then you’ll be average. If you think you’re ordinary, then you’ll live ordinary. The truth is there is nothing ordinary about you. You have something to offer that nobody else can offer.” Do you think that you’re just an average person? Genesis 1:26 (ESV) reads: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”. Yes! You have been made according to God’s likeness. Do you still think you’re average? 

The way you think defines you. You can’t have a successful future if you think you’re average. You can’t have a successful future if you don’t know why you’re here. You can’t have a successful future if you don’t plan. If you want to have freedom and money one day to lead a successful life, you’ll also need to know what success means.