Change for the better

We live with certain realities, many not wonderful. How we see them is about our own perspective and attitude. The frustration of living with loadshedding three times a day is hardcore, and something I never thought I would ever have to learn to live with.

I still look back at lockdown and can’t believe we lived like that. It almost feels surreal that we were legally forced to stay home. Going shopping for essentials was an exciting outing. Do you remember being allowed to walk outside your property for only a few hours early in the morning? Does it seem real that you were allowed to buy only essential groceries and medicine and all other shops were closed? Remember spraying your groceries before bringing them into your home?

It almost seems unreal now, but it was very real and we learnt to live with it. It wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago that we could leave our homes without masks. We didn’t see people’s faces – other than those we lived with – for two years.

There’s so much that we have had to learn to live with and find ways to make peace with. That was the option – do we or don’t we make peace with it and accept it? If not, what are the options? We also had to accept that we were experiencing a life-and-death crisis, in which people all around us were falling ill with this devastating virus that was killing many of them.

And, during that time, there were also miracles in which people who had been on ventilators for months came through and recovered from COVID-19. These miracles shocked us but gave us hope that the situation that seemed insurmountable might not be. They reminded us that we could never lose hope while there was life.

Once upon a time, I had given up hope that South Africa was ever going to change. At the time, this country had a cloud of darkness hanging over it because it was run by an apartheid government determined to keep the majority of this country down. It was determined that black South Africans were going to get a second-rate education and they were forced to live in appalling conditions. I need not go on because you know all of this.

So, instead of accepting it, I chose to go to Israel. I was excited to go to a country where being Jewish was expected of me and welcomed, not some kind of oddity in the greater society. I was so keen for the adventure of it, but I still left with sadness because I was leaving the country of my birth, a country I dearly loved and wanted to grow old in.

My childhood memories and the dreams of my adult years were all firmly grounded in South Africa. And as much as I have always loved Israel, this was always home. I left because I believed South Africa wasn’t going to release Nelson Mandela – the leader of the African National Congress – and it was going to tighten the screws of apartheid to ensure that change would never happen.

But a miracle happened, and change came to South Africa. Nelson Mandela was released in 1990, and under his leadership, we shifted into a new South Africa in 1994. This brought me hope and home.

Back then, and under Mandela’s presidency, we lived as the rainbow nation. That’s not to say that the differences that were so stark during apartheid disappeared because they didn’t, but we were consciously working towards that. Well, most of us were.

The point is that Mandela saw the glass half full. He saw the possibilities. He let go of the anger and any hatred and worked toward building a country that was unified in its diversity and accepted people as they were.

While some may demonise Mandela, he was a true leader, the likes of which we don’t see often in a lifetime. He led this country with a positivity that naturally rubbed off on us, and for years we were hopeful.

On Monday, 18 July, we commemorate this great man and the good that he did in our country. His perspective on life and his vision for the future of South Africa was great. Whether you agreed with the ANC or not, it was actually hard not to ascribe to his vision. It was one of upliftment as opposed to putting people down to get ahead.

As the wise Mike Abel points out on this page, Mandela wouldn’t approve of what’s going on in this country today, and he would expect us not to accept it.

I totally agree with Mike, but also believe that we have to look up and find the good in what we have here – and there’s much of that. We also have to be active in doing good and helping people in order to find positivity in our own souls. If you’re working towards uplifting others, you’ll find yourself uplifted.

I also believe that as long as we have loadshedding – and I can’t see it disappearing soon – we   should be getting together to find ways to change this situation. What can we do to ensure that we have electricity? How can we help?

There are certain realities we can’t change on our own, but perhaps there are things we can change together.

I would love to be able to be as positive as Mandela and always see the glass half full, but it certainly isn’t easy. But I want to be a part of the solution and not the problem, which means I’m saying, “How can I help make things better? What can you and I do to help?”

Shabbat Shalom!

Peta Krost

Editor