TAKES TWO TO TANGO

With no doubt South Africa is entering an arena where the issue of governance is very questionable among South Africans. Politics is and will always be an issue where personal differences will clash. People say that if you are a political leader you need to behave in a certain manner in society. Since human beings are naturally competitive, how does one set up rules on how politicians need to act? If men in the state of nature cannot trust one another then how can they trust one another when they promise to obey the government they have established?  Men keep their promises only when there is a government to enforce them. Obviously politicians need to be unselfish when it comes to political issues and the people which they are serving.  They need to be in a positions where they have to give up their needs and wants for the people. Politicians need to behave in a manner where young people can identify them as leaders and role models, and they have to be respectful and carrying themselves with dignity. With all that being said, how do we make sure that they actually do act and behave in this certain way?  The answer is it starts with us, the people of this country. It was once said by Mahatma Gandhi “be the change you want to see in the world”.  Why should our political leaders take us seriously if we expect them to be in a certain way but we, ourselves can’t be what we want them to be? If we want our political leaders to respect and care for us, we must, the people be able to first respect and care for ourselves and others whom are around us.  Once we as the people of the Republic of South Africa achieve that, we will be able to challenge politicians on their behaviour because it will be something that we live by in our everyday lives.  The South Africa constitutions states, “legislators and political leaders and all levels of government are held continually accountable to the people in respect of wisdom and consistency of their policy and integrity, diligence and with skill which they execute their public responsibilities”.

Ok I know is sounds like a fairy-tale for some of you and understandable so.  In today’s government, people in government think somehow that they are in those positions because they put themselves there.  They do not understand that they are in those positions because people whom vote placed them there not themselves.  South Africa has a problem where too many politicians have the idea that they cannot be removed in their positions because they are the “government”.  James Madism said” knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and people who mean to be their won Governors, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but Prologue to a force or tragedy or perhaps both” our politicians have not understood the word GOVERNMENT yet. The government is and will always be the people. They need to listen to us because we have put our faith and trust that they will represent and serve us up to their best ability. In our constitution it clearly states” all power shall vest in the people of the Republic, who shall exercise their sovereignty through the democratic instruments of State, created and identified in this Constitution.

If our constitution says that, why isn’t right to challenge the State when it comes to issues of power, social and serves delivery?  History may be old but can be and always be relevant in the present and future. Our problems in the past are not the same but maybe the solutions of the past may still be a solution for the present and future. We have a harsh history that no one wishes to go back to (I hope).

 

EXPRESSION

We smile, we love, we cry. We, the human beings experience a wide spectrum of emotions in our life. Some of them are expressed while others die in our own mind, but from time immemorial, our emotions have been voiced through music. Music, which is composed of seven distinct tunes, is actually an expression of human emotions. Expressing is one element no man or woman to live without. As time went by, more and more forms of expression came to a raise. Since the beginning of time, music has been used as an expression of cultural identity. Ancient tribal societies used music as a foundation for gatherings and to express their history, ethnicity, and cultural beliefs. Music has changed throughout the ages, but the use of music as an essential part of cultural and individual expression has changed very little. Over the years music has not only been used to express feelings or the state of the world in which are living in, but is now also used to advertise for popular brands like Nokia and Nike to name a few. Young people of today often identify themselves with certain things in life by the help of music. Music can put more meaning to something that is just expressed with maybe words or images. For example the FIFA World Cup 2010 Song “wave your flag” by Keaan was more of a meanigful to people than the slogan for the event which was FEEL IT, IT IS HERE!.


Since music has a large range of geners i wanted to talk about Rap music. A style of music that first appeared in the mid-1970s as an outgrowth of popular dance music. Developed, as was break dancing, by urban American blacks, its format originally consisted of a disc jockey (D.J.) playing snatches of a record in short bursts, punctuated by rhythmical scratching of the needle on the record, while a “rapper” sang or recited in fast, slangy, rhymed lyrics. Rap lyrics often dealt with harsh subjects such as gangs, drugs, and crime, rap's mainstream popularity was typified but at the end of the day it is expression. Rap music has brought more issues that are faced in society on a daily bases to the forefront, weather it may be how the government runs the country or how people can be the change they want to see in life. The intersting about rap music is that although people say that it is rude and uses very harsh words, it also makes alot of money for those who sing it and those who say its wrong and sends out the wrong information to the public. Some government messages that can be health or education sector use rap music to draw audience so that their message can reach larger masses than the masses that could have be drawn if they did not use rap music.


The rap music also developed a sense of style in dressing or fashion. The bagginbg jeans, large size t-shirts and all. It is a way to be idenrified and a way to be accepted in the rap and hip hop world. Alot of people like Russle Simmons who is the CEO nad co founder of DEF JAMS has made a success in this, having a clothing label that represents the rap and hip hop music world and a company that producese the music too. Dance is also very expressive with emotion and the movement that it has. In terms of the hip hop dance. The first mention of hip hop dance dates back to the 70’s when some new moves were introduced to the dance world to accompany the funky sounds of hip hop music that was also being discovered. Most popular among African Americans and Latin Americans at first, there are many races who now lay claim to defining this diverse dance phenomenon. The first mention of hip hop dance dates back to the 70’s when some new moves were introduced to the dance world to accompany the funky sounds of hip hop music that was also being discovered. Most popular among African Americans and Latin Americans at first, there are many races who now lay claim to defining this diverse dance phenomenon.


Across the United States from the ‘Boogie Down’ Bronx, New York to the ‘Beat Street’ corners of Compton, California, young people everywhere took to this new style of dancing that included such feats as breaking, popping, locking, gliding, ticking, vibrating and krumping. In the earlier days, some hip hop dance moves such as the Humpty Dance were made popular by hip hop artists who had created the songs from which these dances were derived. Early on, dance competitions on sidewalks included beat boxing, a form of music-making that included raps and special sound effects made with the hands and mouth. Artists like The Fat Boys rose to fame and fortune with Buffy’s beat boxing talents. After the outbreak of interest in hip hop dance, there were even several movies highlighting this new form of dancing that combined beats, sounds, and gravity-defying moves. Crush Groove and other movies saw their day in the spotlight as hip hop dance continued to expand to different cultures and races and locations around the globe. From freestyle forms that were often the spotlight of informal battles both indoors and outdoors to formally trained dancers who began to incorporate hip hop dance as a means of dance and


physical exercise, hip hop dance has continued to evolve. Today, hip hop dance has earned a recognized place in dance studios and is practiced as regularly as other styles.


So it is clear that music and dance are expressive but it is the individual who decides themselves how to use that expressive form up to their best ability in life, but one must admit that some issues that we face on a daily bases have been dealt with on a sense able way than other ways like wars. In the old days instead of killing someone for what they say, you can just express yourself in a song or battle them in a dance off at a club or street. One must think if these elements did not exist what or how would have we dealt with the worlds problems and making our point and opinions be heard and listened to.

The Hypocritical society

“What the hell are these people doing? Have they no shame or respect towards other people whom are around them? Shame man they have a disorder that has to be cured fast.”

 For years gays and lesbians have been in the lime light of discriminations in society, from community leaders, to priests, media, their own family members and I. When we debate about them and judge them we are all quick to quote the bible and preach to them and everyone else that God created Adam and Eve for a reason, not Adam and Paul or Eve and Sara therefore it is a sin and that this should not be tolerated by anyone on this earth.  Wow!

That’s quite a mouthful right?

Religious groups have come and  creating blog and websites where they condemn gays and lesbians even quoting bible passages, for instance Pastor Peter J Peters posted on his blog http://www.identity.org/files/homo.html  “He says that homosexuals "are willing to prescribe the death penalty to those who oppose them." He writes that the Bible does not allow homosexuals basic freedoms, like free speech, free assembly, right to do business, right to act politically, to live with anyone they wish, the right to live safely without being victimized by violence. He also goes in detail why the youth should not choose their sexual orientations because God has already chose for them.

Pope Benedict XVI also had a couple of  opinions regarding homosexuals  in 2010  he said  same-sex marriage are some of the most "insidious and dangerous" threats facing the world today.

So if we connect what the Pope and those religious groups and websites say, with what the bible tells us, we assume the case is closed right!?

Well let’s sit back for a minute, so homosexuals are being judged by people whom society considers “straight” and quote their arguments in the bible.  We seem to have a lot to say about them but we do not have a lot to say about the various action “straight “ people do that are not allowed according to the bible.   For instance the bible did say we should not engage in sex before marriage but guess what!? We do find a lot of straight people who have sex before marriage.  Society is filled with teenage pregnancy and single mothers but we never bring out the bible for them so even worse tell they suffer from a disorder. Churches are filled with priest whom have been married more than twice but wait a minute doesn’t the bible say through sickness and in health, TIL DEATH DO US APART!?  They still get divorce but their Word of God says the opposite of what they are practicing.

“So I lost my virginity when I was 16 and the guy was 20 it felt great” “people should not stay virgins forever or wait until marriage to lose because you don’t know what you’re missing”

As years went by people have become custom to the fact that people are having sex before marriage, and even have now develop a mindset that says its ok to have sex before marriage but one must be older and of course use a condom.  How could that be?  Why has society become custom to what the bible and God said clearly that is wrong?  according people the Word of God says homosexuality   is a sin and they also say having sex before marriage is a sin but they turn around and judge others forgetting to judge themselves, put greater guilt upon those whom are gay than those whom engage in sexual activities before marriage, so whose word is true and more spoken and whose bible is it?

We see churches today that are filled with presets who say sex before marriage is a sin yet they are not married but have children. We also find church leaders whom rape young boys to satisfy their sexual desires. No one seems to say that they suffer from a disorder or rather no one seem to punish them by sitting rules where they are sent to jail because they are engaging in sexual activities before marriage. There are countless countries where homosexuals are being killed not jailed killed for what they choose to be and freely expressing that.

If being gay and being a non-virgin is a sin and wrong than why doesn’t society create laws like where people are sent to jail for not being a virgin like other countries do for those whom are homosexuals?  Can we comfortably call ourselves hypocritical for judging and saying that gays are sinners but later turn around and have sex before marriage and say its normal and times have changed?  If that is so than its time for us to become respect and accept homosexuals just like we have respected and accepted that other people choose not wait until marriage for sex.

The Clock is Ticking _ s1m2n1

UNGRATEFUL GENERATION

Pictures from: http://www.google.co.za/imgres

No one should ever forget the events of the past that made history, like the day when South African youth of 1976 became heroes and role models. Vision yourself having to take a decision that is way ahead of your time and age but believing the action you are taking will have a reaction that will make the future brighter not only for you, also those whom are after you. Picture yourself walking down the road with policemen in front of you singing freedom songs for a better life and education for all and later having them shoot you for your human right. Like dogs you go down and later treated like a worthless item of clothing that had no purpose in life.

In 1975 protests started in African schools after a directive from the then Bantu Education Department that Afrikaans had to be used on an equal basis with English as a language of instruction in secondary schools. The issue, however, was not so much the Afrikaans as the whole system of Bantu education which was characterized by separate schools and universities, poor facilities, overcrowded classrooms and inadequately trained teachers. On 16 June 1976 more than 20 000 pupils from Soweto began a protest march. In the wake of clashes with the police, and the violence that ensued during the next few weeks, approximately 700 hundred people, many of them youths, were killed and property destroyed.

It’s been more than thirty years since that event but it seems as if we are carrying on as if it had no significance what so ever. I remember every year when 16 of June comes by, for my parents it’s a day where they remember their friends who died and those whom were taken by the police and disappeared from the face of the earth as if they never existed.  For me and other people my age, it was just another day and a public holiday which meant no school. EXCITEMENT RIGHT? Sure but now as I grow up and learn more and more about this day, I am now ashamed of myself and I can comfortably call myself ungrateful because I now am able to enjoy what my parents and grandparents never got to do. I can walk around this country and not be afraid of being killed by the police just because I am black. I can now learn in my mother tongue or even in English and I have the opportunity to become anything in life as long as I am prepared to work for it.  It is because of them that I now have the right to vote and take part in politics without being killed.

How we celebrate this day is going out clubbing and drinking our minds out and not remembering what we did the previous night and still we have the nerve to say we are celebrating the youth of June 16. Did you know that those students were burning down sheebins and clubs because they knew how much of an effect alcohol has on the black community? They knew it was alcohol that played a part in breaking some black families during those days. Parents would drink the whole day to forget the amount of damage the system had on them.  Young children would drink because they never had resources like community centers where youngsters can get empowered and take part in extra mural activities.

We complain about the political situation of our country and how the ANC or the DA are not doing their job but funny enough we never participate in politics. We are the generation where if something doesn’t affect me than it’s not my business. We are quick to preach what the youth of 1976 went through but we are last to continue the fight of equity, freedom and right of life.

I must admit the problems and the struggles of the past are not the same as the ones we have today. We face HIV/AIDS, unemployment and crime to name a few.  Think to yourself for a minute, have you tested for HIV/AIDS? Have you visited your nearest AIDS orphanages and see how you can help? Have you registered to vote lately so what you need and want are meant by the government? If you have answered no to any of these questions it’s time for you to change your attitude.

So next time you celebrate June 16, reflect on the past, look at your present, look at your community and see if the challenges you  have together with your community.  Can they be solved or not? If one individual can die for your freedom, the least you can do to repay them is to keep the fight alive not only for your own being but also for the generation that will follow after you.

GETTING DISAPPOINTED

Love is like falling down... in the end you're left hurt, scarred, and with a memory of it forever.They say the best way to get over a man is to be with another one. I strongly doubt that things can be that simple. Having spent two years of my life investing into a relationship I thought would last until kingdom come. And to my surprise….


All romantic songs, movies and books seem to follow the same storyline. Girl meets boy, they are faced with different challenges that will determine the amount of love respect and care they have for each other.  The ending is far the most entertaining by far, the girl falls for the bad boy and as she is about to make the biggest mistake of her life, the boy appears again and tells her that his heart belongs to her only and the love they have only comes once in a lifetime, blah blah blah blah. 


Cliché it might be but honestly that storyline is so very familiar in reality but the only thing that these books, movies and songs never seem to master is the heartbreaking and the feelings that carry one onto two roads. PAIN OR HAPPINESS!


So we watch and listen to other people’s interpretation of love and we try to incorporate that to our experiences to that. We listen and judge but funny enough we find ourselves falling for the same storyline and walk away with a broken heart or if you are lucky a happy heart but prior to that still have doubts and questions on how and why this is happening to us.  We search for answers that we know will hurt us at the end. We fall in love with the illusion of love to be in the “in crowd” in society.  If he is bad for me, I make him a good guy to my peers so I don’t get to face the fact that I am stupid


My best friend and his room  was the platform that brought me to discover the disturbing news: ”i  am  pregnant and your boyfriend is the father of the child ” Silence……My heart beat was all I could feel and hear. Doom, doom, doom, doom, oblivious to the pots I was burning in the kitchen. The walls caved in, my mouth dried like a dessert in summer’s heat.


Just like that, what could have been is to be more. The time, memories, hopes, future plans of building an “ever-after” dismantled like a jigsaw puzzle knocked over in a drunken blankness. What’s next? What did I do wrong? What does she have that I don’t have


WOW! All I could see was his smile and how they always made me crave the taste of his lips. Kissing in public never seem to bother me because it felt so right although in the black community it was so wrong but hey at the end we were just two teenagers who shared a teenage love affair.  Is this a dream? Is this April fool’s day?


It’s like yesterday when I first laid eyes on him, coming back from school and him from varsity. Yes I was younger but as the late Aaliyah would say” Age is nothing but a number and without it, it aint nothing but a thing” Tall, dark with the body that would make guy jealous and any girl weak in the knees (looks are everything dear) Bright white eyes centered with an Oreo.  A shy “hey” is all that seeped through those cuddly caves that hid the whitest, symmetrical teeth. Wow, felt a high synonymous to narcotics in an addict’s body. I was the prey that already had spotted her tiger and was in no rush to run away from crash.


 For months I stalked him until he finally did what I waited for him to do, he said” Hey, how are you”? I never answered with words but with a smile and he then knew what I meant to say. He walked me home and what seemed to be a very joyful journey home to me at the back of my mind, I prayed that my parents would not spoil this for me and appear from nowhere and finding myself answering questions that I didn’t have the answers yet to my father. We exchanged names, numbers and a hug for now that was.  From that day I remember thinking every call and sms would be him but to my surprise it took 2 days for him to call. I know that might be ok but waiting for a guy that you saw as your future boyfriend for 10 months to say hey and to notice you, 2 days was damn long.


I remember our first kiss. It was uncalled for, instinctive action that further widened the gap between the lover and the friend. He needed help with a computer program that enable you to edit a picture. I don’t know how changing the auto brightness changed into a collision of lips. Shyly I looked at the monitor as if it was all happening in my head.


It’s hard for me to attempt starting a new relationship because my best has been shared with someone who taught me that there is more to an attachment than romance. There are two different individuals who have to take each other into consideration when it comes to decisions and each other’s well being.


Communication is nothing more than a prerequisite for any form of amorous liaison. Without it all you have is a dream of happiness and a recipe for melancholy.

FREEDOM WRITERS

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The world we live in today is undoubtedly different from what our fore fathers and those after them lived through. Since the rising inventions of technology, to the state of which our society is living in, till this day when you are reading this article. Wheatear the events of the past that occurred were good or bad, they had two things in common. One, they left a lesson to be learnt that is more valuable than what we learn in school. You see it once said the difference between school and life? In school you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson. 

Secondly, we know about these events of the past and present because of people whom made it their business to know, educate and spread the word as far as possible. They go by the name of Journalists.  Journalists are responsible for being active in their community, learn to uncover facts and know what is relevant and useful before it is printed, or broadcasted. They through insignificant stories and reports on what the public are interested in.

Journalists are to some story tellers, others consider them freedom writers for those who do not realize how powerful the pen and paper with spoken words are.  Their responsibilities to society are to inform and educate them on the events that are occurring without them knowing so that they can make a decision for themselves how they as a society going to embark upon the issues. They should speak about issues that some people like politicians are afraid or too arrogant to discuss about. They were part of the reason why this country is free but the struggle still continues as the issues of our day age will be different from what the next generation will face but the job of a journalist will forever be to inform, educate and expose.