Dear Mr President,
We live in a wonderful country. A country which offers so many experiences that not even the greatest wordsmith would be able to fit them all into one volume of writing. A country which offers astounding amounts of beauty. Beauty to the naked eye, but also to the eye trained to those little details that don't go unnoticed as often as is sometimes thought.
We live in a country rich with people who have differing perspectives on this inexplicable thing we call life. Some get up in the morning and walk into orchards bright with apples ready to be picked. Some switch on the machinery that drives industry. Others descend into the earth to mine the bountiful resources we're so lucky to have. Some stride proudly into hospitals and clinics, helping save all different kinds of lives, even those of other creatures we share this planet with. Some get up and create the wiring that drives a wealth of information to each of our doorsteps. Others sit down and plan the exchanges that bring food to our tables.
As diverse as our people are, they all strive for something better. As putting a piece of food into your mouth is the most natural thing in the world, so is wanting to increase enjoyment of life. This wanting transcends wealth, education, geographical location, language, race or anything other thing we might say is different between us. This wanting is within us all, quietly driving our daily actions towards achieving whatever it is that we define as "better". In some cases, better is as simple as an extra slice of bread for supper. In other cases, better is network of friends within walking distance. Sometimes, better means an empire of businesses that collectively enable thousands to feed their children. In all cases, better involves other people, the smiles we exchange, the way we talk about dreams, the shared understanding we have of such utterly natural needs as food, shelter, safety, love and self-actualisation. It's this shared understanding that connects us as human beings, that enables us to work together towards common goals, that gives us just enough empathy to be able to realise that we care.
Caring is what binds us, and it shouldn't be negotiable.
Caring is not limited to self or others. It spans across selfishness and altruism, into the realm of the common goal of better. Better should be possible, not because of luck or fate or hidden forces at play, but because every single individual part of the whole cares. Whether or not individuals agree on how to achieve common goals is largely irrelevant if there is not yet a deep common feeling of "I care about the better". This feeling doesn't need to involve actionable plans towards the better. It doesn't even need to define the better in exact terms. All it needs to do is inspire an understanding that every little thing matters, that every little action within the framework of human compassion can meaningfully contribute towards the better.
In my humble opinion, Mr President, not enough South Africans care about the better.
Without caring about the better, without caring (full stop) as a start, we cannot succeed as a nation. Whether one is versed enough in macro-economics, sociology and all the expert fields required to have an opinion on what South Africa needs on the road to success is not the point of this letter. The point of this letter is that within any home, block, city, province and country, every single individual has the power to enable the better by caring. By caring about what happens when someone discards a plastic wrapper into the wind. By caring that the person walking down the road next to them doesn't fall into the path of oncoming traffic. By caring about another person's belongings left unattended in a public place. By caring just enough to change just one little thing every day on the way to the better.
Today, If I may be so bold Mr President, I'd like to encourage to you change South Africa. Not by managing government structures through endless operational and strategic meetings. Not by speaking to foreign leaders on their soil about building trade relationships. Not by rolling out ever more direly needed police officers. Not even by facilitating building of the infrastructure we so desperately need. All these things are important yes, but they pale in comparison to stepping up to a challenge only conquered by great men. I'm asking you, Mr President, to inspire our people.
Inspire our people by telling them a story. Book an hour of prime-time television on all channels, and speak to the heart of every single person who's watching. Tell them about how far we've come, but tell it as a story of hope, courage and achievement. Evoke the emotions that every South African has within them by highlighting touching tales of caring on a micro, individual level. Give our people the tools they need to see things from a different perspective, to stop thinking about whatever they are doing at that very moment, to realise that the only thing that really can make a difference to the state our country finds itself in is caring. Show emotion, Mr President, but not staged emotion. Tell a story that brings a slight tremor to your own voice, then pick up your tone and speak of the courage you have to reach the better, and ask every single South African to share this courage with you. Once you do this, you'll realise that the power of collective purpose and individual action surpasses exponentially any government initiatives at creating the better.
Do this, Mr President, and you will have shown yourself to be the leader our country needs.
Yours, together in caring for the better
Martin Hattingh