We really need to teach the kids about those busy little elves

IOFTEN wonder whether modern schoolchildren are taught enough about how the world works. We tend to go through life doing hundreds of insignificant little things like switching on lights, flushing toilets (if we are lucky enough to have flushing loos), opening taps to fill the kettle, flicking on the kettle switch and expecting the water to boil.

We watch the rain come down and expect it to drain away safely to the sea rather than flood our streets.

We walk on dry pavements at night, with street lamps lighting our way.

We catch a bus or train to get to work, or we board a taxi in a busy taxi rank. If we have an accident, an ambulance comes to rescue us.

Do we ever take time to consider the thousands of people who make these everyday things happen?

Somewhere behind the scenes there are people making sure our water is clean and safe, ensuring that the stormwater drains are kept clear, the street lamps have working bulbs in them and that stolen electricity cables are replaced. Somehow our garbage bins are emptied every week.

I think one of the most valuable lessons I learnt from growing up on a farm was that all those things do not happen automatically. Our water supply and electricity all had to be home-made.

And (one of the biggest problems of all) our rubbish had to be removed somehow.

I learnt from an early age that bottles and bags needed to be disposed of. Bottles are a particularly difficult sort of rubbish to get rid of.

Somewhere along the line all these services we take for granted in the city must be paid for. The garbage collectors, street cleaners, bus and train drivers, traffic police and lorry drivers all have to receive a regular pay cheque.

Who pays them and where does the money come from?

Kids should know every cent of that money comes from you and me. Every time I buy a can of food or a packet of chips, a little of that money goes into the Treasury to keep our country running.

This is why we should never shrug and say: “Oh, it’s just government money” when we read of yet another few billion rand being “misappropriated”.

Our budget airline is asking the Treasury for a couple of billion rand because they’ve wasted it on silly expenditure. The newspaper headline this week announced that the state had made a Treasury “bungle” and lost another billion rand.

A surprised schoolgirl was paid R14 million in error for her food grant instead of R1 400. Just another silly “oops”.

It’s time we all learnt that every single one of those casually tossed away rand was one you or I earned.

It really is time our leaders took our money seriously. And it’s time our next generation learnt to keep a closer watch on our wasteful leaders.

Last Laugh

On Saturday Bob got dressed in his grubbiest clothes and started the dirty job of cleaning out the yard, emptying the rubbish and weeding the driveway.

An elegant woman came by in her expensive car, stopped and watched Bob working. Then she opened her window and shouted: “How much do you charge per hour? You look like a hard worker.”

Bob looked up, wiped his forehead and shouted back: “I don’t charge anything, Ma’am, but the lady of the house lets me sleep with her.”