Elizabeth Look-a-like

I have found a place that can bring healing to my frustrated, sad or mentally unstable self - the little book exchange in town.

This morning I woke up and as always switched on the TV and had my first cup of coffee whilst catching up on the latest news and happenings. However, this morning, I just took everything to heart.

The SKY news reporter was reporting on how the 2010 Soccer World Cup was bringing hope to our rainbow nation, which is true.

For the first time ever, I have seen white and black people unite in a way I have never seen before. People have flags on their cars, they have flags in front of their houses, they are just going crazy for South Africa.  So, from that point of view, I agree, the 2010 Soccer World Cup has changed our lives and perspectives. It has brought us together.

So why then, did they have to go to the same old story then?  Walking down the street in Soweto where the Sharpeville Massacre took place. The guy was explaining to the reporter how the streets were lined with black people, dead children, everywhere you looked. Killed by the white Afrikaner regime.

It was then that I realised why I am so angry. It was because the story was re-written. The story had become severely one sided and it is alienating a whole sector of people - the modern Afrikaner.

The modern Afrikaners, people like me, have no real clue anymore why there was apartheid...but boy, we sure can't forget that it used to be there.  Even if we had nothing to do with it, we are surely being punished for it.

But, I am sure there must have been a good enough reason at the time.  Maybe, it was for security purposes. I don't know.  Because in our modern rainbow nation, it's pretty violent and corrupt. There is even a song being sung, inciting people to kill the white people.

Maybe our grandparents just continued on the path that was set for them by the colonial British. I really don't know and I wish they never did it.  Because now, we are the hated ones.

Either way, this is what's been on my mind today.  I don't know why, but it has me down.

So, I went into my favourite place for solitude and picked up a book.  The old lady reminded me so much of my granny and she was talking to her friend about how Bafana Bafana must beat Mexico tomorrow.

And then it hit me, we are all just humans, living with our own pain. It's good to think about your life and your views on politics, but we must not take life so seriously.

And with that thought, the old lady looked at me and asked if I knew who Elizabeth Taylor was.  Yes, I said. She said that I am even more beautiful than her when she was young. I laughed and said I must come there more because the compliments are so good!

Maybe she knew, just like all grandmothers know how to read people, that I was having an ugly day.