Most people, left to themselves, are happy and content

I gained an interesting insight one day driving slowly in peak hour traffic on the N1. There was a team of men working on the side of the road. I believe that is was when they were erecting street lights in about 2014, and one big, hulking man in his work overall was skipping merrily along.    

   

I realised that most people, left to themselves, are happy and content.    

   

It is very easy to persuade one that he is unfortunate because he lacks something that another has - that will always be the case. Or that he is entitled to something. Or that he has rights that others should ensure.    

   

It is not easy to persuade one, though, that he must meet the needs of others, or ensure those same rights for others, or share what he has with others.    

   

This entitlement is one of the biggest maladies that we face in the world, and South Africa is an excellent example of the malady. Donald Trump elected US president, Jacob Zuma giving State of the Nation address in South Africa, BREXIT in Britain, and so forth. 2016 and 2017 are proving to be remarkable years.

Coincidentally, I wrote this on Friday morning 11 Feb 2017, and on Friday evening I heard an interesting quote on a business radio programme. 'Comparison is the thief of joy'.

People, left to themselves, are happy and content

Interesting insight that I gained one day driving slowly in peak hour traffic on the N1. There was a team of men working on the side of the road. They were probably erecting street lights in about 2014, and one big, hulking man was skipping merrily along.    

   

I realised that most people, left to themselves, are happy and content.    

   

It is very easy to persuade one that he is unfortunate because he lacks something that another has - it will always be the case that someone has more of something than we have. Or that he is entitled to something. Or that he has rights that others should ensure. We need to recognise that we, in turn, have more of some things than others have, or are better in some ways than others. I remember my mother pointing out that the goat herder on the mountains can almost certainly speak more languages than I can.

   

It is not easy to persuade one, though, that he must meet the needs of others, or ensure those same rights for others, or share what he has with others.    

   

This entitlement is one of the biggest maladies that we face in the world, and South Africa is an excellent example of the malady. Donald Trump elected US president, Jacob Zuma giving State of the Nation address in South Africa, BREXIT in Britain, and so forth. 2016 and 2017 are proving to be remarkable years.

Coincidentally, I wrote this on Friday morning 11 Feb 2017, and on that evening I heard an interesting quote on a business radio programme. 'Comparison is the thief of joy'.

Students throwing tantrums about the weaknesses of their seniors rather than working to change the world themselves

South African institutions of higher learning, the students attending them, and others have been seriously impacted over the past few weeks by students demanding that fees must fall. Somehow they feel that it is not reasonable that fees increase although inflation erodes the value of the currency, and government have been reducing their financial support for universities. I guess they are as yet ignorant of the realities of life, and that life simply does become more expensive and that they have the choice of being proactive and preparing for tough times, or just moaning that there are tough times.

I am concerned that the students who are effectively throwing tantrums (an immature thing to do) should rather be working really hard to get themselves well qualified and able to go out and lead South Africa in the way that they are frustrated that the older generation are failing to do.

When they are the older generation they will probably realise that things in 2015 were not as bad as they were led to believe. I have no doubt that the a very big problem is a small group of trouble-makers who are telling the masses that the masses are unhappy. Certainly they are not as happy as they would be in the perfect world, but the world is not perfect – and that comment is not limited to the University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Western Cape, or even South Africa. They will in due course notice that the entire world has problems and is not perfect. I suggest that they should get over it, and become people who will help to make a better world by building on, rather than causing more problems by destroying, the tremendous good that there is.

Anyone who destroys is undermining the very thing that they say they are trying to achieve. Burning or damaging buses or property is, in my view, not defensible. Showing disrespect towards others is not acceptable. We have seen a lot of this in these riots and demonstrations. Of course, now that they have caused damage, some of the money that could go to supporting students has to go into repairing the damage. 

We need a nation of builders and agents of change, not tantrum-throwers who just complain because others are not building the nation and being agents of change, that everyone else is not perfect. Let them work to become more perfect themselves and make the difference that they want to see. Let them be part of the solution and not part of the problem.