The African Dream
23 May
South Africa was supposed to be the home of the African dream, it was supposed to be the rainbow nation.
After 1994 there was so much hope alive in the people of this country – a hope for a better life and a hope for a well run country.
In the past month, with xenophobic attacks erupting around Johannesburg and the possibility of the attacks spreading to other parts of the country – in fact, it seemed that it had spread to Cape Town and Durban – people have been losing their faith and hope in our country.
I don’t blame them. With the level of corruption we have, weak leaders and the rise in prices and interest rates, things are not looking too good.
But, this is home and while being naive and overly optomistic, wouldn’t it be nice if everyone stopped behaving like complete and utter pillocks and worked to make our home better? Maybe worked through those problems in a productive and logical way. And wouldn’t if be nice if the media stopped fueling the fire? And wouldn’t it be nice if Celine Dion just fell off a cliff?
Yeah, these things are never going to happen. But wouldn’t it be nice?
Sure, I plan to leave S.A. sometime in the future, but not because of any of the reasons most people cite, I’m planning to skip over the pond to join family and escape some other family. It’s a long story – if it wasn’t for the story though, I probably wouldn’t move by butt because despite my complaints and rants…this isn’t a bad country and there’s no where else in the world like Cape Town.
That’s my nice thought for a Friday. Maybe because we’re getting free pizza at work today.
On Monday I’ll probably be back to my bitching cynical self.
Note: I may have been drugged when writing this. It’s hard to tell.
Related posts:
Never think that the grass is always greener on the other side. Sure, there are less spent rubber bullet cartridges, but that’s not the be all and end all of life.
so um… were you drugged?
Having “escaped” 10 years ago, I can agree with 6000 that not everything is greener on the other side. Having said that, living where we do, the differences are vast… being able to sleep with windows open in summer, and not have burglar bars on the windows… need I say more? Yes, there are economic problems, but they are worldwide, and I know that we’re coping better with those, being here, than we would have done, being there.
I miss my friends, I miss the beauty of the country, but I like my life, and that is why we left! Oh, and having family here helps make that move easier!
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I honestly am not sure about this one. I have a different point of view. But anyway …
cheers, Palindromist.