So,
quite recently, my hands had been numb as if they had been injected
with a highly intoxicating drug, or they had been paralysed by a
North Pole winter biting snow. I could not move even a finger to push
a pen. I could not think of anything of interest too. See, I am
nursing life brutal blows; and my thoughts are struggling to ascent
above my own unique status quo. I could not bring myself to a state
of pessimism and bombard my readers with my mere obsession about my
tribulations - hence that could cost me dearly, to a point whereby I
will find myself losing an inch of my readership.
The
reality is that I had been paralysed, and/or faltered, by/or with a
writer’s block. It is not that I have nothing to think of, and/or
write; for every soul that has faced, and/or is still facing life
brutal blows, have a lot to say, to think, to write. I have only been
careful not to allow the tone of my writing to sound autonomous. So,
I chose to allow myself to falter with the writer’s block – up
until the new creative tone finds its way to my soul, and nourish my
skill.
They
say, sometimes a writer need to walk around and observe when
faltering with the writer’s block; and through observation, the
inspiration will find its way to the writers skill. Sometimes the
inspiration can ambush the writer through life’s vicissitudes and
harsh perennial realities. And that can often happen at anytime,
anywhere, anyhow. And the inspiration hit me on Monday (the 22nd
of May 2017) at All Nations Church in N1 City, just adjacent to N1
City Mall.
I
went to All Nations Church earlier in the morning to write a Unisa
(University of South Africa) Winter Semester Examination. There were
people who were not allowed to write, due to being two (2) minutes
late. To me, that was so unfair. Consider the fact that they have
invested both time and money on the modules that they were supposed to
write. That investment in terms of time and money is most definitely
the reason one African guy was so frustrated, citing “this is our
future”. He pushed a security guard who stood on his way and forced
his entry. They did not provide him with examination documents, and
threatened to call police. He had to leave the exam room on some
anger tip.
His
“this is our future” utterances rang on my mind perennially. And
I kept on thinking; we were bombarded with the perception that
education is the key to the future from a young age. We grew up with
that perception. As a matter of fact, we were indoctrinated with that
perception. Even the late first South African black democratic
president, Nelson Rholihlahla Mandela once said “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world”. That is debatable when it comes to academic and non-academic learning. And
that is the reason that there was a woman who died in a stampede
during registrations at the University of Johannesburg in 2012 (http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20120113110018923). One
columnist from City Vision community newspaper denounced that
incident as an act of desperation. He went further to allude that
even though education is the key to the future, there are lots of
unemployed graduates in South Africa.
My
stance is in affirmative with that columnist when it comes to
desperation. And that desperation stem from the fact that we were
indoctrinated since knee high that education is the key to the
future. That without education one will amount to nothing. That’s
definitely the reason that guy was shrieking “this is our future”.
One needs education to secure good employment. But nepotism and
racism is rife worldwide. Jobs are not guaranteed even if you are
highly qualified.
Education
was developed to meet the rise of industrialisation. All tertiary
courses are specialised to fill a certain gap in the industry. Now
that the world is globalised through technological advances
and machinery, there is no need to hire many people in the industry,
because one machine can perform tasks that are performed by vast
manpower. What does that mean? It definitely means that many
graduates will never secure employment in the fields that they have
studied.
If
jobs are not guaranteed, why am I pursuing a BA degree at Unisa? The
answer is: I am gambling. See, life is a gamble. That’s why people
get hired and fired, fall in love and break up, marry and divorce,
accumulate wealth and lose it. It is all a gamble. I recently had a
chat with a UCT (University of Cape Town) graduate from Kwa-Langa, a
township near Cape Town City, on a temporary administrative job I had
at St Marais TB Hospital in Retreat. She said: “Anele, education is
the security over jobs, not a guarantee. When job opportunities
avails themselves, you stand a better chance of obtaining them –
than someone who is uneducated”.
