Questions to ponder on the brink of the nuclear deal
IN the light of the chilling possibility that our government wants to go blindly ahead with the nuclear option in providing energy to the country, the following questions:
What does it mean to govern? That when elected, you have to rule according to the wishes of the people who voted you to this position? Does it furthermore mean that you as a government will then not make any decisions that will be to their disadvantage, their demise, decisions that will be the reason why their children will face hardships?
Does the beauty, the deep feeling of safety, in a simplistic vision of democracy – the will of the people in general – entail in any way that leaders and voters understand the consequences of their deepest wishes, their longing, their position of relative power?
And that those other guys, the opposition, are losers without any merit, without capabilities to contribute to the well-being of all the people of a country?
That they are effectively the endured enemy, not capable, not inclined, not dedicated to contribute to proposed ways of taking a country forward? That they not also are just part of a struggling humanity to right inhuman wrongs, to protest against over-simplified concepts and ideologies?
We humans are fallible. We make bad decisions. Bad marriages, bad businesses. We find base ways to live. We read newspapers that come naturally to our perceived views but not any others. No, they are the enemy! Without any merit. Never to honestly engage with complexities in life. Even it that too will prove to be biased. Provincial. Partially in the right.
We may need just one view, if listened to carefully, from a minor political party member to convince us not to make bad mistakes. An honest minority view to hold consequences up to us.
Myopic views, ideologies, will result in some innocent people suffering, then more, and then a country. One minor member of Parliament may make a contribution that may prove to be so important as to shift the direction of simplified, short-sighted visions. Plain greed to be exposed to the light of questioning. They could, if they were not, high school sport-like, shouted down.
South Africa. Our country. Of all of us. Black people. Brown people. White people.
All of us South Africans loving this country. And, listen carefully, loving all its people. Don’t minimise anyone superficially. Doing so, it minimises you too.
We need to make sure our leaders, our politicians, have the interests of us all, and our children and grandchildren, at heart. We need to make sure the people making huge decisions on our behalf understand the full consequences of what they endeavour. We all need to walk tall.
Nuclear power: Can we really afford it? Will it not become an unbearable financial burden to children yet to be born? Will it really benefit the masses or just a range of shrewd operators? Is this the best course to take? Can, or cannot the sun, provide us with a cheaper option so that children will not be deprived of much-needed education, food, shelter, societal care?
Please consider history. Why did societies, countries, collapse? What decisions did they make from a position of unchallenged power, clamped ideologies? And then the unforeseen consequences followed. The gradual intensification of fear, anger, hopelessness. And then they were gone. Only the history books remaining.
We too have a choice. We can continue playing Russian roulette, or we can become morally responsible and use our hearts, souls, brains to the borders of reasoning and to walk tall towards the future. Or we could also be watching the unfolding of life with intense sadness.
Some people are impelled just to go the way of instant gratification and orgasmic shallowness. But, if we want to be human, humanely human, we need to look out for all our children. And their children. We need to face up to complexities. Or history will shame us all. The greedy guys and we, the passive compliants too. The history books will remain to be our final record in life. Wim van der Walt Bellville