I really agree with you Dr. Moch and home is where the heart is, Rather than dealing with different problems and people I'd rather deal with my problems and the people that I know. Yes Africa is not perfect, but if someone can name the most perfect place to live wouldn't it also have it's fair share of problems. No one and absolutely no where is perfect 😊
One particular item in your Newsletter No 22 struck a chord with me and said it all.
Wherever you go there you are.
My mother, zl, always used to say:
Wherever you go, you take yourself with.
Tonight on Arnold Garber’s International Yiddish Zoom-zits, I am going to repeat that wise saying in Yiddish “Avu mi geit, nemt men zach mit”
She used to refer to people who would put themselves into debt to go on holiday to the sea, at the end of the year, because they needed time away from everything.
They would live in flea-bitten, cockroach invested ramshackle hotels or rooms, miles away from the beach,
get sunburnt and bitten by the bluebottles, get blown away by the gale force winds if it was Muizenberg, argue with their spouses because life back home was much more comfortable,
but they were convinced it took them away from everything.
It didn’t because wherever you go, there you are, and returning home now meant facing additional debt.
Another great article and an enjoyable read and a wonderful start to an overcast Sunday with my cuppa coffee!
I am confident, as you are, that the future of this country is in more than capable hands.
I am blown away by the sheer hunger, thirst, lust for knowledge and education exhibited by the previously disadvantaged of this country. I am in awe of their incredible intelligence, their humility, and humbled their unwavering discipline and utter dedication to achieving their goals - despite the odds of substantial limitations, such as having to learn complicated concepts in a language that is not their mother tongue, despite the odds stacked up against them from living in rural areas, despite enduring financial hardship, transport and internet connectivity challenges, and despite hefty competition from White monopoly and prejudices and biases that to this day still exist. Given all of that and more, their ability to sacrifice and focus, their incredible loyalty and responsibility for family, Black tax, and more, is astounding. And then there is their lack of selfishness, their effortless mindset of community development, country development. It's not even a question. It's about how they can uplift others, how much employment they can create for others, how they can help their families, relatives, communities, the country. They are not interested in flashy cars and designer bags, great big mansions, these students, entrepreneurs, businessmen and women, professionals. They are driven by expanding their minds and refining their processes and exacting their skills and passing that on to others. They are like veritable sponges, soaking up every word and nuance and bite of information that they can.
I am in awe of them and believe this country might just land up being one of the best to live in, in the world, given whose hands its future is in. I hope they sustain some of their traditions which make them uniquely African – else we’re in danger of just becoming another country intent on destroying natural habitation and climate and making the bottom line the one and only priority that drives governance.
On your comments about narcissism, etc. my parents, whose many wisdoms were instilled at me from an early age, would say – don’t label. I agree. Labels can be dangerous, limiting, counter productive, judgmental. Later in life I learned that we don’t see the world as it is but as we are. A perfect example of this is – I was trying to rent a cottage and when I went to view it, I noticed two large, rambunctious, barking dogs romping around in the area where the cottage was, they were basically confined to that area. I asked if they could be moved to the more spacious front lawn where they would have more room to romp around and I wouldn’t be disturbed by them, win-win. The “lady” of the manor said that she had flower beds in the front of the house therefore it did not suit her to have the dogs there because she wanted to protect the flower beds, and what a narcissist I was to even suggest it. She was more concerned about her flower beds than the wellbeing of her dogs and the ability of her tenant to live and work and exist in peace. Who is the narcissist? QED.
Having said all this “glass is half full” stuff, I’m not opposed to emigration – it’s simply a choice of what background you want to work out your “baggage” against, what landscape can best serve your future and allow you to more easily drop that baggage or see it from a new perspective. I am not sure the “wherever you go there you are” is as simple as it would purport to be. After all, they say a change is as good as a holiday, and your article on walking is another QED. Environment and new opportunities and different structures can be a great influencer of different and positive outcomes. New adventures call. If you’re sensitive to your surroundings and energies, malleable and adaptable and have the necessary practical things such as finances in place, you will not only be different in different places, but will thrive and prosper. If you go there expecting life to be the same, just a different address … no, then you’ll encounter resistance and strife.
I really agree with you Dr. Moch and home is where the heart is, Rather than dealing with different problems and people I'd rather deal with my problems and the people that I know. Yes Africa is not perfect, but if someone can name the most perfect place to live wouldn't it also have it's fair share of problems. No one and absolutely no where is perfect 😊
I read your article with great interest and much enthusiasm, and immediately posted it on my Facebook page.
Thank you for putting it so succinctly and with such clarity. Excellently expressed. Thank you so much.
From a very good, insightful friend.
Shavua Tov Dr Moch
One particular item in your Newsletter No 22 struck a chord with me and said it all.
Wherever you go there you are.
My mother, zl, always used to say:
Wherever you go, you take yourself with.
Tonight on Arnold Garber’s International Yiddish Zoom-zits, I am going to repeat that wise saying in Yiddish “Avu mi geit, nemt men zach mit”
She used to refer to people who would put themselves into debt to go on holiday to the sea, at the end of the year, because they needed time away from everything.
They would live in flea-bitten, cockroach invested ramshackle hotels or rooms, miles away from the beach,
get sunburnt and bitten by the bluebottles, get blown away by the gale force winds if it was Muizenberg, argue with their spouses because life back home was much more comfortable,
but they were convinced it took them away from everything.
It didn’t because wherever you go, there you are, and returning home now meant facing additional debt.
Regards
Estelle
Such great reads. Doc
Another great article and an enjoyable read and a wonderful start to an overcast Sunday with my cuppa coffee!
I am confident, as you are, that the future of this country is in more than capable hands.
I am blown away by the sheer hunger, thirst, lust for knowledge and education exhibited by the previously disadvantaged of this country. I am in awe of their incredible intelligence, their humility, and humbled their unwavering discipline and utter dedication to achieving their goals - despite the odds of substantial limitations, such as having to learn complicated concepts in a language that is not their mother tongue, despite the odds stacked up against them from living in rural areas, despite enduring financial hardship, transport and internet connectivity challenges, and despite hefty competition from White monopoly and prejudices and biases that to this day still exist. Given all of that and more, their ability to sacrifice and focus, their incredible loyalty and responsibility for family, Black tax, and more, is astounding. And then there is their lack of selfishness, their effortless mindset of community development, country development. It's not even a question. It's about how they can uplift others, how much employment they can create for others, how they can help their families, relatives, communities, the country. They are not interested in flashy cars and designer bags, great big mansions, these students, entrepreneurs, businessmen and women, professionals. They are driven by expanding their minds and refining their processes and exacting their skills and passing that on to others. They are like veritable sponges, soaking up every word and nuance and bite of information that they can.
I am in awe of them and believe this country might just land up being one of the best to live in, in the world, given whose hands its future is in. I hope they sustain some of their traditions which make them uniquely African – else we’re in danger of just becoming another country intent on destroying natural habitation and climate and making the bottom line the one and only priority that drives governance.
On your comments about narcissism, etc. my parents, whose many wisdoms were instilled at me from an early age, would say – don’t label. I agree. Labels can be dangerous, limiting, counter productive, judgmental. Later in life I learned that we don’t see the world as it is but as we are. A perfect example of this is – I was trying to rent a cottage and when I went to view it, I noticed two large, rambunctious, barking dogs romping around in the area where the cottage was, they were basically confined to that area. I asked if they could be moved to the more spacious front lawn where they would have more room to romp around and I wouldn’t be disturbed by them, win-win. The “lady” of the manor said that she had flower beds in the front of the house therefore it did not suit her to have the dogs there because she wanted to protect the flower beds, and what a narcissist I was to even suggest it. She was more concerned about her flower beds than the wellbeing of her dogs and the ability of her tenant to live and work and exist in peace. Who is the narcissist? QED.
Having said all this “glass is half full” stuff, I’m not opposed to emigration – it’s simply a choice of what background you want to work out your “baggage” against, what landscape can best serve your future and allow you to more easily drop that baggage or see it from a new perspective. I am not sure the “wherever you go there you are” is as simple as it would purport to be. After all, they say a change is as good as a holiday, and your article on walking is another QED. Environment and new opportunities and different structures can be a great influencer of different and positive outcomes. New adventures call. If you’re sensitive to your surroundings and energies, malleable and adaptable and have the necessary practical things such as finances in place, you will not only be different in different places, but will thrive and prosper. If you go there expecting life to be the same, just a different address … no, then you’ll encounter resistance and strife.