Negativity will be the death of us...

I wish we would stop being so negative about everything in South Africa. This past weekend I read through the papers and saw a letter that pissed me off (again). It is about a subject that has been under discussion the whole week: The multi-million Rand school that was donated and opened by Oprah Winfrey.

The point the person tried to make is that she (it was a female person) wondered who Oprah thought she was. If she (Oprah) thought she was some kind of saviour and also asked the question why Oprah did not rather donate the money to help resolve the teacher shortage situation. She carried on to foul-mouth Ms Winfrey. It is this negative find-fault-in-everything attitude that I am really get sick of. It is the same way that we had complaints about the FNB advert on TV where a white male is very bitchy about everything in SA in a queue at the airport. An Aussie then gives him a bit of a scolding over his negative attitude towards the 2010 World Cup.

Lets get back to Oprah. Fellow South Africans, please understand that the queen of talk television owes us NOTHING! She does not have to donate one single bloody cent to us for anything. The school that was was built cost us as taxpayers NOTHING. It is a gift by Oprah to South Africa. The girls who attend the school pay NOTHING. It is free! I know that it will not do anything to alleviate the teaching crises in South Africa and will not make any difference in the educations system's problems, but it has made one hell of a difference to the kids who were elected to attend the school. No, it is not a school for blacks only. Every parent who earns less that R5000 per month was welcome to apply. No race was ever mentioned. The poor whites just took that for granted.

Think about it it. The school has taken in 152 pupils who came from basically nothing to a school of luxury. They have the greatest facilities and will love as one big happy family. Further on, Oprah has committed to pay - if they pass grade 12 with the necessary results - for every member who wants to further her education anywhere in the world. What a change in the life of 152 kids who had no real chance in life! Thanks Oprah, you are great.

I think of in like this. Even if she adopted ONE single kid, she has made a difference, so who does the bloody idiot who wrote the letter to the Sunday paper think she is. Maybe I should pose her the question, Oprah has made a difference in the lives of 152 kids (not even to mention the staff who has to support the infrastructure). In how many underprivileged kids' lives have you made a difference?

It all comes back to attitude. It has been proven over and over in the past that if you are very negative, it influences your actions. If you believe you are sick, you will eventually become sick. If you think you are healthy, you will become better. I know it is an exaggeration and that the real world does not always work like that as there are things like broken arms that will not be fixed through thought! We, as South Africans, are currently getting trapped inside that sea of negativity. Every thing is wrong. The Government is corrupt, the police force useless, the schools terrible, education standards down, crime too high, wife too ugly - oops sorry. Cannot blame that one on anyone else. You get the idea.

The fact of the matter is that some of these thing, like the corruption of government officials should be very positive. that fact is that we KNOW and HEAR about it. that means we are transparent on that level. In the past it was also there, but hidden away. I have heard some terrible stories of things that happened in the past. These were NEVER reported in mainstream media, but it does not mean they did not happen.

I could comment on each and every one of the points above by looking at the amazing police successes there have been and by referring the the progress of my two kids who are on the outcome based education system. Stop running everything down. I have - without even thinking twice about it - a much better life now. Despite all the crime I have a better life than I had 16 years ago and I am a white South African.

To conclude, we must remember that we are in charge of our own destiny on the continent of Africa and no one else owns us anything. They did not create the situation we are in, we did it ourselves so rather than to critisise everything that someone else does, get off your arses and do something yourself to improve our wonderful country on the Southern tip of Africa. I love my country and will die defending it and it's rights it has created for all humankind.