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Let's put 'heart'
back into things
I repeat it at the end of every year and I'm repeating it again now. It's what my grandmother once said to me when I was young. "My boy, when you're young, a day seems like a year. As you get older, a year becomes a day." I didn't have a clue what she was talking about at the time but I do now. She was so right. This past year has flown by at a rate of knots which truly boggles the mind. It seems only yesterday that my wife and I were out Christmas shopping for the kids - and we're about to do the rounds again now.
As mentioned, I have recalled my grandmother's saying in editorial comments in the past but this year it takes on a new meaning - not because of its significance in terms of the faster passage of time but because of it's pertinence in terms of the events over the past year. September 11th 2001 will be recorded in the history books as a day which turned the world upside down - a day which started out like any other but which ended in a changed world from the one we knew prior to that fateful day. I still cringe at the horror of those attacks. I cringe at the scale of hatred which drove those men to kill innocent men and women in such a blatantly open and awful manner. It's something I just cannot grasp - cannot understand - cannot condone. What was the point? What was achieved? How did it add any value to anything or anyone? How did it contribute to the enrichment of mankind? There are times when I think of the families of those who were killed and I want to scream in anger. I want to scream to someone out there to put some meaning to it all. I have channel surfed late into many nights switching between CNN, SkyNews and BBC listening to so many 'experts' giving their opinions and yet my mind remains wandering in a turmoiled maze of confusion and sorrow. If only someone could explain to me how religion can be honorably linked to the mass destruction of innocent life, perhaps that would be a good place to start. Perhaps that would help but there would still be a long way to go after that.
And then we get closer to home - to our neighbour President Robert Mugabe who seems hell-bent on doing to Zimbabwe what those 'terrorists' did to the twin towers in New York. He too is flying his plane into the structures of Zimbabwe and in so doing, is leaving nothing but rubble in his wake. He too is bringing 'terror' into the lives of thousands of innocent farmers who have contributed so much to that country. And here too, one wants to scream out in anger at the pure senselessness of it all. What is the point? What is being achieved? How is it adding value to anything or anyone - apart from, in this instance, Mugabe himself. How are his actions contributing to the enrichment of mankind? Just as the September 11th attacks in New York and Washington heralded in a new era of instability in the world, so too have the farm attacks in Zimbabwe by Mugabe's so called 'war veterans' heralded in a new era of instability in this region.
And what about business? What has business taught me over the past year? Well, I've certainly got wiser in business due to a number of reasons but in general, business has also shown itself up as also having entered an era of dishing out 'terror' and instability. It too has shown a harsh face where it no longer has the flavour of contributing to the enrichment of mankind. The drive for profits and 'return to shareholders' has become an all consuming passion and like Mugabe is doing in Zimbabwe, business is now lining the pockets of a few (the shareholders) while leaving the rest to search for bread in the rubble. Why do I use the word 'terror' in relation to business? Simply because it has brought terror into the lives of thousands of families around the world through seemingly endless rounds of cost cutting exercises that have led to thousands of people being retrenched. "We're back into profitability," says the smiling three-piece suited man on the TV screen. "It was easy. I closed five plants and retrenched 15 000 people." It too makes me want to scream in anger. How on earth does that enrich mankind or add value to anything or anyone apart from a handful of shareholders?
Business has lost its heart.
Given all this, I subscribe to the saying: "The more I see of men, the more I love animals." But what has all this to do with my grandmother's saying? It's simple. The passage of time does go faster as you get older but as the past year's events have proved, your time can be cut in a matter of seconds by factors totally out of your control. The Bible tells us to "Live one day at a time" but how many of us have actually mastered this. I know I haven't. Think about it. How much energy have you used up this past year in worrying about yesterday and tomorrow while ignoring today. We miss the moment so often and this past year has sent out strong indicators that it's time to stop and smell the roses - and to smell them today for tomorrow they may have withered and died.
On September 11th, I sent an email to each member of my family in South Africa and around the world telling them how much I love them. I hadn't done that before. There was only one I could not get hold of as she was travelling and was away from an e-mail address. It worried me that I could not tell her how much I love her. I want to do that more often - and I will for the events of the past year have shown me that if I leave it, it could be too late.
As we end this year and enter a new one, let's learn from what been going on around us this past year. I have heard transporters say there's no more fun in what they do. What a pity. We can change that but we will need to rethink our values and why we do what we do. There is a saying normally given as advice to youngsters setting out on a new path: "Put your heart and soul into it and you'll get there." Think about that. Let's put matters of the heart back into the world. It will act as food for the soul and things will get better. God Bless you all.
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