#SAVision2030 What are You Doing??

In his book Community, The Structure of Belonging, Peter Block reminds us about how we "love our habit of dependency and accept the culture of retribution because it reinforces the case for strong leaders - 'strong' being the code word for autocratic, a message our culture is increasingly willing to accede to." (p40) He goes on to say that "it is this love of leaders that limits our capacity to create an alternative future" (p41) because only leaders are seen as being important and capable of anything. It lets citizens "off the hook and breeds citizen dependency and entitlement." (p41)  It also gives us "someone to blame" (p41).

The reality of what you see comes from what you choose to look at

It sounds like he is talking about my country. South Africa. And he is right. We do constantly look to our leaders, both political and business, to make things right. To fix the mess, to save us. We also blame them for the mess we have found ourselves in. We get despondent and hopeless, railing at the inexplicable decisions that resulted in our power failures, water shortages, ailing schools, ongoing unemployment and persistent poverty.

Peter Block says, "the reality of what you see comes from what you choose to look at." (p42). I have grown tired of looking at the bad, the corrupt and the wasteful. It weighs me down and keeps me stuck. It makes me feel lost and despairing. I am as much a product of this place as I am part of the problem. Now I choose to change my narrative. I choose to see possibility. The possibility that is "not a prediction or a goal, [but] a choice to bring a certain quality into [my life]." (p42)

I choose to stand for what is written in the National Development Plan. Our National Development Plan. I choose not to wait for leaders but to be part of a community that cares. That what I do and how I do it, is as important as what I want to achieve. I say: "I cannot be without you, without you this South African community is an incomplete community, without one single person, without one single group, without the region or the continent, we are not the best we can be." (Vision Statement: NDP, p19)

My world feels richer, fuller, plumper, despite the markets crashing, the threat of more retrenchments, the scramble of teachers teaching to pass ANA's rather than focusing on the children. I can make a difference. I am making a difference. It may be small but possibly others will find it in them to change their narratives too. Will find it in them to join this community. This community for a #FlourishingSouthAfrica. I did not start it but I do choose to join it rather than starting something new. Why separate what can be joined?

Will you join us too?