Unity is Strength. Unity in Diversity will give greater Strength.

I shared some thoughts with various people on 19 March 2023, the day before a national shutdown planned by a small group of people who love to dress in red and wear red berets: 

Brothers and sisters, the gospel of Jesus Christ has never been needed more than it is today. Contention violates everything the Savior stood for and taught. I love the Lord Jesus Christ and testify that His gospel is the only enduring solution for peace. His gospel is a gospel of peace. Preaching the Gospel of Peace, Russell M Nelson, 2022

This is so relevant to the threats made by the EFF (Economic Freedom Fighters) in South Africa who are staging a national shutdown on 20 March 2023. What we need is the opposite of this kind of behaviour, not what seems to be immature bullying that can not be based on love, but seems to be based on selfishness. Let us strive to live up to our national motto.

The RSA motto post 1994 is: !ke e: /xarra //ke, written in the Khoisan language of the /Xam people, literally meaning diverse people unite. It addresses each individual effort to harness the unity between thought and action. On a collective scale it calls for the nation to unite in a common sense of belonging and national pride - unity in diversity.

The Coat of Arms of the Republic of South Africa

Between 1961 and 1994 the RSA motto was Unity is Strength.

Let us strive for unity in our diversity.

Someone responded to my message: 

Before 1994 it was apartheid and segregation. 

I replied: 

Yes, it was. 

I love the way that I understood it to be - allowing the 'Bantu' to be themselves without having to compete with the very different ways of the 'European' people, so that they could progress in the way that was least competitive to themselves. As I understand it, that policy, created by believers in Calvinism, was based on love and compassion rather than on hatred. I do not deny that the implementation of the policy was not without fault or imperfection.

During the time of separate development, referred to by many as Apartheid, the 'Bantu' people had what Thabo Mdange KaTshiwo apparently claims to have been among the highest quality health care, hospitals, schools, literacy, standard of living, and so many things as compared to many countries in Africa and of 'Third World Countries'. These advantages were paid for by the taxpayers who were a small percentage of the population of South Africa (as is almost certainly the case in just about every nation in the world) and most of those taxpayers would have been the despised and hated 'Europeans' that were running that system that was referred to as apartheid and segregation. 🤔 

There were injustices then. Is it fair to say that there are no injustices in South Africa now? Are there not injustices in just about every country, in 2023? 

Would the Saviour remind us in South Africa in 2023 'He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at [the Apartheid government]''? 

As I recall, the present governing ANC (African National Congress) party had the slogan on their election posters 'A better country for all'. Is it a better country for all in 2023? If so, then that would be progress. Have we really progressed? Yes, we are better in some ways. But can we honestly say that even the least of us now has a better state of well-being in 2023 than the 'disadvantaged black people' had just before 1994?

I pray earnestly that our diverse people will unite, that the government will stress that every citizen has equal rights as stated in the Bill of Rights in our constitution, but more importantly, the Founding Provisions state that every citizen is 'equally subject to the duties and responsibilities of citizenship' for ensuring those equal rights. That means that the lowest and the highest should be working together for the rights of every citizen rather than just demanding that 'the government' provide them with the rights that they deserve or demand. Each citizen should work to the extent that she or he is able to earn enough to be contributing meaningfully to the taxes that will fund those equal rights. Each citizen should be wise in exercising their democratic right - and responsibility - to vote for a party that will actually deliver on meaningful promises.

I look forward to us really having a better country for all. In my understanding, there are injustices in our present government. I was told to not look equally at job applications when preparing to interview applicants for jobs at SANBI (South African National Biodiversity Institute). I was instructed to not treat all races and genders as equal, but to deliberately exclude certain applicants, even if they were most appropriately qualified for the position being advertised. Is that really better than pre 1994, 30 years after declaring that every citizen has equal rights? 🤔

I love South Africa. I don't think that all is perfect now. I know that all was not perfect then. I am trying earnestly to love every other child of God, striving for the best strength possible that is all the better for our diversity if we will be one.

Unity is Strength. Unity in Diversity will give greater Strength.

May we have that greater strength, I pray in the name of our gracious Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, amen.

Note: It is difficult to fact check Thabo Mdange KaTshiwo on the 'EVIL APARTHEID OF THE BOERS', but you can look at this Facebook post and this Wordpress article and decide for yourself what is fact and what is fiction. 

I hope that my thoughts are the fruits of a disciple of Jesus Christ and not of a follower of Satan. I honestly try to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. I hope that each reader of this blog post will strive to be part of the solution and not part of the problem!

Producers and consumers living together

It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4

Life is easier without religion. Here the Lord is saying that we should not just seek to exist, survive, or live, but to expand our vision to His view and growing, thriving, climbing, labouring, reaping, harvesting, studying, learning, etc. 

Yesterday I took 7 Latter-day Saint missionaries for a walk at Kirstenbosch. During the walk I mention the Khoisan in terms of van Riebeeck's hedge, and San artefacts found in the Dell. I am always impressed by pondering how the San, the original occupants of the Cape, were hunter gatherers. They were fruitful, multiplied, and filled the Earth and lived wonderfully in harmony with nature. See Genesis 1:22. To Adam and Eve God gave a higher directive than He had given to His other creations in Gen 1:28. 

Hunter gatherers would need tens of square kilometres of land to support a family. 

Then new people who came from the North - agropastoralists - the Khoi, came in and were competing with the San. The Khoi would have required much less land to support a family since they were not simply consumers, but by tilling the earth they were producers. They integrated and became the Khoisan.

Then came other strangers that had sailing vessels and came from across the sea! These and later strangers people were much more impressive, even imposing, in their productivity. They built forts of stone, roads, canals, hospitals, schools, wagons, and all sorts of amazing things! They ploughed lands and were very productive and could have hundreds, even thousands of people on a square kilometre! This was amazing, but seriously outcompeted the Khoisan. Conflict was inevitable! 

They were very different. But one was not good and the other evil. One was not right and the other wrong. One was not superior and the other inferior. They were different - distinctly different - but their lifestyles were a little incompatible. The same scenario existed when pioneers in wagons arrived and intruded on the lands of the Ute Indians in Utah, and many other lands all around the world. 

Nowadays there are places with tens of thousands of people per square kilometer, but they still need those who live in harmony with their environment and who need square kilometres to support a family. We need each other. Each is superior in some aspects. Therein is our strength. Unity is Strength. There is Strength in Diversity as Diverse People Unite. 

If only we could walk the talk of the mottos of several nations, peoples or organisations 🤔😊