My stroll along the path of life has in many ways been predetermined.
Colin J. FRYER has been conditioned through the last centuary by the input of all that have walked on the same path. Family tradition, the influence of parents, teachers, friends, events have all come to lay the hard wiring of my mindset, beliefs and manner of operation. Absorbing the moment to moment stuff that we entertain each day realises our reaction, thought process and to a great extent our very Self. I live in Africa and am contented to live the good, the bad and the indifferent to do just this.
I have therfore to accept: The raping of young African children on an hourly basis, one child every six second dies in Africa from malnutrition, we have the highest HIV infection rate in the world, we experience coruption, graft and corporate neglegence at a high level. That many of our governments are utterly corupt, nepotism rules and nothing else does. Agriculture, the mainstay of southern Africa is in decline, mining in South Africa is almost stripped of any semblence of corporate governence and the polarisation of our people continues to be exacerbated.
So why do I, in all good conscience remain contented to live in this Africa ? Because unlike the Western world, we are work in progress ( WIP ) ! Yes, alive with challenges and many untenable positions but still alive with opportunity, reality and Africaness. The rough crucible of Africa is hard and when pestle comes down to grind the wheat into flour, well it causes some to be crushed, some to be wasted and the remaining, to be the very sustinece of our people. Does the ramblings of MALEMA get to me, does MUGABE continue to make sense ? Does the colapse of out teaching system concern me, does the widening of the income gap between those who have and those who want it given to them rest easy in my mind ?
Africa is a paradox of lost African souls, caught up in the ways of the Western world in all its mediocraty, failings and blindness and their forefathers who strode across the continent in sure belief that they were right and all who countered were wrong. We witness profound loss of all that is fundimental every single day in Africa, the loss of life, the loss of family, the loss of hope, the loss of religion. Yet, if you take the time to stop for just one moment and allow the elements to form around you, a gentle spirit will alight, the spirit of Africa, the essence of the reality of the path we are walking on, a path where you have to have faith, where giving up is simply not an option, where one single thought does make the difference.
Is this right or wrong ? Neither, it is all in our perception in the moment of concept on the path. I live in Africa, love it, live it and appreciate the challenges for what they are.
Ciao
Colin J. FRYER.
