Things Fall Apart

When speaking with my father in a conversation that began with a salad, our mixed thoughts led us down a totally different trail. Firstly speaking of family (my grandfather whom I never met) and the lifestyle my father grew up in. A small town with hard working people and a life of simplicity where the weekends were spent playing cards with friends, and the children were asleep by 8pm. Seen and not heard. This topic led to the terrorist war that broke out. My father was called to the army to defend the white government that was being attacked by a black movement wanting to overthrow them. This reality startled me as I realised I have grown up in a completely different world and time. My mother had just married my father before he was called to fight in the war. I can't imagine her fear. Not knowing if he would come back on his feet or in a body bag. Not knowing what hell he was enduring in order to protect his country, a patriotic position to take, yet not voluntarily. Forced heroes.

It seems like it must have been one hundred years ago. I grew up in a school of mixed races, had friends of every colour. I never saw black and white. I saw people. I saw personalities. And I am so thankful for that. I cannot imagine a time so different with such opposite attitudes. I am not blaming anyone for the differed views of the past, it was the environment my father was raised in. It was the way of the country. The world. Racial perception has grown with time and so the way race interaction has developed into today, may not have suited the past.

This conversation continued on to the reason Africa is in this current state. Why is there war and fighting and political animosity? Is it an evil necessity? Or a waste of lives and resources? Why isn't the government using their money and power to uplift the people that would in turn uplift the country? Why aren't we investing in education and training as apposed to simply giving jobs to unqualified people who are failing horribly at their jobs? This explains our health system, our home affairs, our government employing and ultimately destroying interdependent systems because people are not trained in specialised areas.

And just as we were all taught in kindergarten; if one part stops working or doesn't work correctly, the rest falls apart. The animal food chain. The evaporation water cycle. We need to all function with confidence on order for all else to benefit and blossom. The power needs to shift from the politicians to the people. That is what I wish for my country.

Before more things fall apart.