GO 7 November 2019

GO! & EXPRESS 7 November 2019 For all your advertising needs call Cheryl on (043) 702-2031 or Wezley (043) 702-2048. Find us on Facebook 9
Passing on
the baton
in the race
of this life
Some hand it over on solid
ground, others shirk their role
WATCH OUT
ROY HEWETT
One of the defining realities of
every person’s passage through
life is that there comes a time to
make way for successors and to
hand over to the next generation
of workers, leaders, bosses and
role players in all fields.
In a sense, this inevitable
process reflects “passing the
“baton to the next participant in
the “race of life”, and is
arguably both natural and
desirable for the evolution and
smooth functioning of society.
It seems prudent and right
that some reflection and
introspection should take place
regarding our performance
during our time in possession of
the baton.
One aspect of meaningful
evaluation would seem to be
our handling of the baton’s
cousin, “the buck”.
Did we generally take
responsibility, or were we deft
passers of it in the common way
of too many of our kind?
Did we number among the
dubious members of society
described by Paul G Stoltz:
“Blaming, whining, deflecting
accountability, risk aversion,
and resistance to change are but
a handful of symptoms of the
adversity-beaten individual and
organisation?”
Or were we accountable
and ready to stand up to be
counted?
Another interesting way to
look at life is as a metaphorical
banquet, with all of its
trimmings ranging from the hors
d’oeuvres through main course,
desserts and then cheese and
biscuits.
Did we drop our plates or
mess our food for others to
clean up?
The answer to this question
speaks volumes.
Regarding accountability
and taking responsibility as
opposed to the tendency of
many of us to “pass the buck”,
WR Inge offered this compelling
advice: “Don’t get up from the
feast of life without paying for
your share of it.”
A sobering comment on this
almost universal weakness in so
many of us is reflected by Joseph
Fort Newton: “A duty dodged is
like a debt unpaid; it is only
deferred, and we must come
back and settle the account at
l a s t .”
Few would contest the
argument that passing the baton
has significantly more positive
connotations than ‘passing the
b u ck ’, assuming that the baton
is a strong and worthwhile one.
Two impactful observations
that make the point:
“Create your legacy, and
pass the baton.” - Billie Jean
King
“My hope is to incite that
feeling of inspiration in as many
other people as possible. To
receive and pass along that
baton to anyone willing to carry
it further.” - Adam Rodriguez
On a more humorous note,
yet having undeniable relevance
in many cases:
“Parenthood is the passing of
a baton, followed by a lifelong
disagreement as to who
dropped it.” - Robert Breault
“The older generation sat
looking at the younger, and Kat
wondered exactly when and
how the baton had been passed.
She wanted to know if it was too
late to give it back.” - Ally Carter
And then, from two of the
biggest names in the history of
science and epitomisng the
fundamental role of the baton in
l e g a cy :
“A hundred times a day I
remind myself that my life
depends on the labours of other
people, living and dead, and
that I must exert myself in order
to give, in the measure I have
received, and I am still
r e c e iv i n g .” - Albert Einstein
“If I have seen further it is by
standing on the shoulders of
g i a n t s .” - Isaac Newton
We may find it enlightening
to establish whether we are
passers of the baton or the buck
. . . whether those who take over
from us are on solid ground, or
having to take responsibility for
where we have shirked ours.
❝
The
older
generation
sat
looking
at the
y o u n g e r,
and Kat
w o n d e re d
exactly
when the
baton
had been
passed. .
was it
too late
to give it
back?
Come together for true change
MATTHEW FIELD
While most of East London was
glued to their screens wa t ch i n g
the Springboks thrash their
English rivals to win the Rugby
World Cup, an all too familiar
scenario was playing out in the
suburb of Stoney Drift.
Certain residents, sick of
being abused and forgotten by
their government, decided to
take matters into their own
hands.
The result was a network of
illegal electricity connections
that criss-crossed all across the
suburb.
While such actions may be
understandable given the
desperate situation, illegal
connections are dangerous and
led to many injuries and even
one human fatality in 2015.
In the end, the municipality
was forced to react and
removed the connections.
Unfortunately, this was not
the end of it as we report on
page 3 of this edition.
With their only access to
electricity taken from them,
residents decided to take to the
streets to protest the
municipality's refusal to
acknowledge their right to basic
services.
Situations like this are never
as cut-and-dry as they might
appear and I could fill this paper
with a discussion of the many
intricacies.
For now, though, I want to
focus on one of the more
damaging results that inevitable
arise during a protest – the
splitting of communities into
two 'teams' in fierce and often
violent conflict with each other.
On the one hand you have
the protesters, which in Stoney
Drift are made up of residents of
the informal settlement.
These people have spent the
last 25 years being told that they
are free and that a
democratic SA meant a new life
for them and their families.
They have also spent the last
25 years realising that this was a
cruel and tragic lie.
These are people who are
forced to live in squalor, who
are forced to experience the
humiliation and discrimination
that comes with poverty every
day while less than 10 meters
away, their neighbours enjoy
services that they may never get.
Is it any wonder that they
eventually got sick of waiting
and took the matter into their
own hands?
While I don't wish to
condone illegal electricity
Chelsea the cat keeps an eye
out for any mice that may
scurry across her path
Picture: FELICITY MASON
connections, it is just as foolish
to ignore the reasons for their
existence in the first place.
This brings us on to the next
“team”, the residents who
oppose the protesters. .
As we've reported twice
now, some Stoney Drift
residents say they and their
families have been threatened
with violence if they dared to
speak out about illegal activities
they'd witnessed.
The real antagonists in
Stoney Drift aren't the protesters
or the anti-protesters.
Rather, they are the corrupt
and inefficient power structures
that allowed the situation to
become this desperate in the
first place.
The sooner we realise this,
the sooner we can truly come
together and bring about the
change we desperately need.