LOOKING UP
Boris shocked everyone by refusing to pick up the fallen
banner of a fractured Britain, leaving the country shellshocked and broken.
And then a week later he became foreign secretary. This
is a person who has insulted almost every major foreign
political leader, saying of Hilary Clinton, “She’s got dyed
blonde hair and pouty lips, and a steely blue stare, like
a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital” and commenting
on “The Donald” that, “the only reason I wouldn’t go
to some parts of New York is the real risk of meeting
Donald Trump.” This is the top of the crop in the UK!
He has a great turn of phrase and a sharp wit, but he’s
no Churchill.
Yes, we often expect politicians to be inane, amusing,
incorrigible, unprincipled, corrupt, cowardly and
stomach turning, but surely we need to be openly
grateful to Hashem for a providence which has allowed
the growth of role models of such a different calibre in
South Africa.
Contrast all of the puerility above with the following
from Thuli, “I need to listen well so that I hear what
is not said.” There’s just no comparison! In the midst
of plenty, comfort and affluence, the UK and the USA
have not produced greatness over the past few years;
whilst embattled South Africa has women and men
who confound us all, again and again by transformative
leadership.
This August I reached two conclusions.
Firstly, part of the reason we have such people in our
midst must surely be the fact that we were privileged
to have Nelson Mandela as a lodestar for our
country. Mandela, or at least the myth of the man, has
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“We sleep
better at night
knowing that
these
fabulous four
are around
and watching
out for us,
from below
and on high
…”
so thoroughly marinated our collective thinking of what
we should and could become, that some people take it
really seriously: perhaps Nene, Madonsela and Pravin
actually do? And these four become a challenge to us all
– a challenge to each one of us who pays the R50 bribe
to the corrupt cop instead of taking the fine, to those
of us who are too creative on our taxes and so on. If
they can endanger reputation, life and limb, can we not
play our part a little better? And if an ex-school teacher
named Thuli can lose her husband so young, raise her
kids on her own, become an advocate and achieve so
much, can we not also strive higher?
And secondly, what I am happily not surprised to see
is that when many of us think of the four trailblazers
above, Nene, Madonsela, Gordhan and Mandela, we
think of them as people who inspire us, unaware of the
colour of their skin. These are the names that we trust.
We sleep better at night knowing that these fabulous
four are around and watching out for us, from below and
on high; battling on so that destruction will never again
be visited on our country; they are like the rainbow G-d
set as a sign so long ago that a flood would never again
destroy the earth. Our rainbow has black and brown and
pink and a whole host in it, but we no longer notice; we
simply appreciate every day we see it up there.
And that is, to my mind, a rainbow nation. It is no myth.
A nation that has undergone significant transformation
in one of its most critical areas: its heroes. Where the
people to whom we aspire, the people who motivate us
are beyond colour and also beyond expectations.
My prayer this Rosh Hashanah is that each one of us sees
that rainbow, remember its source, appreciate it, and act as
if we deserve it every day; and then, please G-d, we will. ■
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