Season's Greetings

I wanted to send some sort of Christmas greeting to my friends and colleagues, but it is so difficult in today's world to know exactly what to say without offending someone. So I met with my attorney yesterday, and on his advice I wish to say the following:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, nonaddictive, gender neutral celebration of the summer solstice holiday, practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great (not to imply that South Africa is necessarily greater than any other country) and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

Regards
The Wisher
Sibongile Khumalo

J-sek to Parys!

Subsequent to my dramatic, yet dignified, fall into a manhole in the small township of Munsieville, I have just returned to J-sek from a refreshingly different experience that was 'Outward Bound' in Venterskroon, a camping site on the edge of South Africa's fashion mecca, Parys. My December leave days began with a drive to a wonderfully secluded area for the 'Get-Away-From-Jozi' crew, which I'm certain everyone I know at least aspires to belong to! All thanks to the Student Sponsorship Programme (SSP)...Rodney* in particular, who coordinated an orientation/leadership camp for the newest 'class of 2011', expected to begin quality high school education at arguably some of the best schools Africa has ever seen.

These 'kids' (average age = 13) are great! Smart-assess, with lots to contribute to society, in terms of brain-power...the ability to think on their feet, their well-pondered responses to adult enquiries, their weighted opinions on any subject matter ranging from Harry Potter to NASA's next space shuttle launch. If I didn't know any better I'd say they were constantly and consistantly 'keeping up appearances'...or maybe in this case 'interview-drawn impressions and expectations therefrom'!

So what did I take away from this experience? A few underlying, but equally fundamental lessons regarding child-rearing and bearing...a wake up call to the reality that is 'responsibily'! I was deeply struck by these teens' varying personalities, yet all the result of similar influences. This alerted me to the value of effective/well-directed parenting upon the all important outcome variables that essentially shape this child! I met some individuals who reminded me of the shallow and ignorant teenager I once was. I reflected upon the thought processes that led me to this point, and with that, reaffirmed my 'decision' to not have children!...NOT until I am comfortable with the idea of having a mini-me!

Children are indeed the future that is so desperately calling to be considered when making plans to have them...take time to know dis!
*not necessarily his real name!

Gay Rangers

Yesterday could well have been the saddest day in the history of marriage, as some of us have come to know it, as a religious concept meant to unify heterosexual lovers! And some may argue that Tom and Jerry have as much right to be together as Tom and, say Sue! Bollocks!, I say. Not that my opinion holds much water (as agnostic as some would like to think I am)!
South Africa's very first 'legal' (whatever that means) same-sex wedding ceremony took place in the small town of George, where 2 game/gay rangers exchanged somewhat distorted vows to each other in a court room. How fitting! We have now made our mark as the fifth country in the world to legalise same-sex unions, and the only one in Africa where this is allowed! Are we slowly, but surely moving away from our Africanism, shaping the way for all of Azania's rebellion from it's mother African legacy of partnership between a man and a ('real')woman!? The Law has become an escape for many who would like to change all things bright and beautiful as they please. I would like to see this country become one of the first to legalise sensi (ganja), then we'll be talking!

What I find even more interesting is the fact that popular culture is embracing these rediculous unions! One of our most popular, and liked TV soapies, Isidingo has dedicated more than an episode to "give viewers an insight into gay marriages" and untimately "serve an educating role" in teaching South Africans about homosexuality, by incorporating a gay wedding into their seemingly flexible script. And the goal?: "When people see something on a daily basis through any public medium, such as TV, we know how powerful that is...they get used to it and see it as something normal"! But it's not!
When will this blatant brain-wash cease?

Long live AZANIA...and all that it stands for!