We spend a lot of time in South Africa discussing the broader challenges our country faces, and the ways we can go about overcoming these challenges. Of course, this is healthy, higher order thinking which will help bring about lasting change to our country. However, I think that we often forget to address the little things in the process. We may craft ambitious plans and structural changes that our country needs, going back to square one each time, without ultimately implementing these ideas. Meanwhile, the little things can get forgotten. I would like to get to work addressing the "little things" which can have a huge impact.

For example, we can revise health insurance in South Africa, in a lengthy and controversial (we need only ask our American friends) process which can bring about huge changes in the country, but we can we also replace the sheets in our hospital beds once in a while to prevent fatal infections? It seems we fail all too often to implement such simple measures on the ground. We can implement a new curriculum (after the complete failure of the previous one) across the country, but why not also build a pedestrian bridge across that river in the Transkei so that hundreds of learners can actually access their schooling in the first place? Projects such as these require low investment yet can have a very high impact. There are many other examples, on a much smaller scale, of the small things we can start doing better in order to drastically improve the lives of South Africans. Rather than becoming frustrated by the slow pace of policy change, we must always keep our eyes open to the opportunities which may present themselves to start fixing this country from the ground up. Country-wide change will never come overnight, but we can narrow our focus to change the lives of individuals overnight. Build that bridge. Noo child should have to walk to school for three hours every day.

In South Africa, and increasingly in the United States, political discourse has gotten so uncivil, it’s actually very saddening for me. It stifles debate. It seems that all too often, one is unable to actually engage with someone who disagrees with you on a certain topic, because all other points will be disregarded. Political discourse, from the level of political leaders to every-day citizens, has turned extremely sour, in South Africa and in the United States as well, where the political arena is the most divided it has been in decades (or so I am told). Or has it always been this way and I am only noticing it now? What I see is a society which requires everything to be in black and white. It seems we have to be absolute, everything said by somebody we disagree with is completely wrong, as if acknowledging the slightest positive in an opponent compromises one’s entire position.

Does the narrative have to be completely one-sided in order for us to form and defend our opinion on it? Are we so insecure in our own beliefs and positions that we are completely unwilling to even concede a single positive to our ideological opponents, lest it erode our own position entirely? We should honestly give our own minds a little more credit, and be willing to consider another’s point of view without it completely undermining ours.

The often repeated quote “I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” seems to no longer apply for many people. I cannot work out why this is the case today. It’s not as though the issues at hand have gotten any more serious, these matters have always been important, but perhaps the internet has made our interactions far quicker and thus far less thoughtful. If you want to assess someone, anyone, fairly, take away their biggest perceived flaw or shortcoming and see them for who they are. Take a peek at the other side, it won’t make you wrong.