A Nation of Super-Heroes! (Do YOU have what it takes?)

My PC is dragging its feet - my darling husband is half-watching some or other Super 14 game online - so I'm typing this post out in my Gmail as an email draft. (*sigh* the ever-present state of compromise/collaboration that characterises a happy marriage!) And I guess that brings me to what I want to write about today: accountability. As individuals. And as South Africans. (You know, I'm kind of getting tired of only writing and thinking (and dreaming!) about this whole Malema thing - and I yearn for something a little more frivolous and fun to discuss, but I am a bit like a bull-terrier: once I sink my teeth into something, there's no letting go until, well - for lack of a better analogy, the thing is dead. Kaput. Finito.
And no, I am not referring to the widely wished for death of a certain someone, because that wouldn't really solve anything. He is not actually the problem. He personifies the problem quite nicely, but I believe the problem lies much deeper. It is in your heart and mine. Let's face it: the heart of our nation is sick. It is damaged. It is weakened by rumours of war, plagued by ceaseless nightmares. And after this last week where I've been trying to roll out 'Malema, a Love Letter' across the country, what has made itself evident is the general South African attitude of lazy apathy, passive complacency, defensive/wounded egos and a tendency to blame. (Struggling with my mother-in-law's untimely death, I contacted a bereavement counsellor here in the UK for some outside advice - and ironically, she turned out to be South African. While I explained some of the issues surrounding our grief, she made a point I didn't like too much. She said that as a collective, South Africans tend to blame others for problems they themselves are actually responsible for. My immediate reaction? "No, I don't do that!" But since that day, and as I've been watching people reacting to my posts and things on the news, I am ashamed to admit that we do, in fact, blame anything and anybody we can. Blaming is the passive defence of a coward. The good news, however, is that it is never too late to change. And this begins with the renewing of our minds, one thought at a time. Be a hero! MAKE your voice count! Don't wait for miraculous change to suddenly appear out of thin air - or for somebody ELSE to effect the change you long for.

Blaming is the passive defence of a coward.

All my life, I've avoided politics like the plague that it is. So my current obsession with South Africa's political situation has taken me surprise - though, if I think about it, perhaps it is not that shocking after all: it is not so much about cold-blooded politics as a human drama with villains and heroes fighting for their own brands of justice. Seen like that, it makes our involvement as individuals that much more critical: we must fight with our own two hands, our minds, our hearts and our talents. Fight the GOOD fight.

So, what can you do today to make a difference? Write your letter to Malema.

(The mere fact that only THREE South Africans have purposefully taken this action is a direct reflection on the sick, sad 'passivism' paralysing us. Let's see if we can reach TWENTY letters by the end of the weekend. (The truth is, we need THOUSANDS of letters for this gesture to be noticed and broadcast by the likes of The Times and Carte Blanche.))

(This post is dedicated to Alan Straton and Edward Labuschagne from MyZA for personally choosing to champion this radically different approach! If you're on Facebook, join the group Edward created here.)