Dear South Africa - An Open Letter

Dear South Africa

Land of beauty, of power, of soul.

I did not belong to you, but I walked your soil. I marveled at your oceans, your mountains, and your children. I gave it all to do so, and in doing so. I don't know all about you, and yet I feel I belong in some way to what makes you so unique today. Because you speak deeply into my heart, and my hopes for Us all, Humanity. And before some of your children might dismiss me because i'm a foreigner (or whatever, in fact), I will state what my heart stands for, so maybe they will see me first as a human brother and friend.

You have been riddled with scars and mistreatments, historically, economically, (in)humanely. But you are not unique: so many other places have seen genocides, mass murders, injustices, slavery, colonisation in a way and/or another, be it in the past century, and/or all the way to 5000 years ago. It wouldn't be about "whiteness" or "blackness". It would be about religions, cultures, languages, colors, classes or whatever faction/tribe/caste one can imagine. In so, you have nothing special. Nothing new. Our good earth has seen more and worse already, at all scales, from all creeds, in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Americas.

The same old SHIT all over, in FACT.

What makes you unique lies in something else.

So what makes you different, today? Why do I feel involved, me, a foreigner? Why am I not choosing the easy path of dismissing this foreign country and fucking off?

Because you are the land of all possibilities. You are a current meeting point of all worlds, in time and in space. You are a highlight picture of what constitutes me as a human, and us all as a community of humans. Because you have everything in you.

And consequently, you are the place of all decision, for Who to Be. There is SO MUCH at stake, with this precise statement. Not just for South Africa, but for Us all.

Because you have so many "choices": races, religions, social classes, cultures, whatever, each so undisputably obvious. You have so many sides to pick or pick on. So many enemies to erect. So much to settle. And all scars, so vivid still. You have every single reason an ill-minded leader can possibly wish for to rip apart this country. You concentrate every single reason to implode.

And maybe you will.

The economy is collapsing, the leadership abuses its power, sells the founding uniting ideals to foreign benefactors, toys with the country's institutions and constitution. Unemployment is rife, education is failing, communities are segregated, social imbalance is dire. Frustration is growing while racism hits back in the vivid scars of Apartheid, with sadistic surgeons taking great pleasure, power and money in striking more division in South Africa's wounded society. They do so, simply because it is easy to do so! Because it is way more challenging to build unity instead, and they are too coward and selfish to even attempt such a daunting task.

The place of all decision, and all possibilities. That is not true for many other (most) African countries, with fleeting institutions/economy/governance. South Africa is not at that stage where all power is lost to foreign interests, where a decision taken 20000km away erects a factory in the middle of nowhere, with thousands of hungry workers agglutinating along dirt roads leading to illusions of a better life. Yet. You still hold most of your autonomy, despite this globalizing world. You still have the strongest institutions, industries, and state-of-law, on this troubled continent. And you have all openings, to all worlds.

You have the possibility of NOT imploding. You have the possibility of benefiting together from all your incredible strengths. Of course this needs total involvement from all parties, and much has been silenced since 20 years in order to keep an apparent peace at the expense of social justice. Those who prone a poisonous statu-quo in fear and refusal of change only nurture the future storm, and miss the opportunity of enacting the greatest transformation to be.

So when I see so much talent and energy deflected on seeds of division into the hearts, thanks to ill-minded or blind leaders who feed from fear and/or anger, when I see so much at stake diverted to totally legitimate emotions, but dangerously counter-productive acts, I just think we are in for another of these cyclic and destructive spirals. And the South African 'miracle' will pass into oblivion with another bloodshed, or whatever pitiful chaotic decay, like many cynical observers predict.

I am not cynical. To me, the South African miracle is the one on which the rest of the world can take example. It is the one that leaves no excuse for Humanity to rip itself apart. Because If you can make it, You, at one of the hardest positions in this world, then you would have set the most beautiful example of what Us Humans can be. And that is the Dream I came to participate in and fight for, at my own scale but with full heart, in an ever-more globalizing world where all references and boundaries are shaken, and identities challenged. This will leave us all naked, as humans, and if we don't find a way forward without dividing along whatever line, we WILL achieve self-annihilation, thanks to our numbers and ever-more destructive weapons. That is the main difference of OUR time in History.

Leading people into something greater about themselves, this is how much is at Stake, nothing less. You may be the most challenged country in this regards, but maybe it is because you have what it takes to match it. In fact, the miracle started already, but can be interrupted anytime.

The place of all decision, of all possibilities. Including delusion.

What to choose, what to follow? What to fight for, or against?

The same old shit, or something better?

These questions are the same as the inner ones we ask ourselves, when we seek what is true and worthwhile, behind deceiving appearances and deceptive solutions of false prophets.

I'm a foreigner, but I love your country enough to wish the Best of the Best.

Because you deserve it! May clear-sight bless you in this endeavour.

And should it fail, I will cry not only for South Africa, but for the World itself.

A Lover of your country.