Always we hear from the masses and the unfortunate, ‘give give give’, if you drive to Lesotho, the kids hold out their hands asking for sweets, the trade unions march and demand, Julius Malema wants to take and redistribute, and the white folks are complaining because they aren’t given anything!
The common theme in this country is that someone has something that someone else wants, but that is not going to build anything, America was a success because it created from nothing, Singapore, also previously colonised, went from 3rd world to 1st world in under 2 decades because a constructive approach was taken, despite having no mineral wealth. China is growing at an unmatchable pace because it is offering something that the rest of the world doesn’t, cheap labour combined with a great work ethic. India is set to dominate the tech support world by up-skilling faster than anyone else.
Companies like Virgin and Apple created new markets, when the status quo was help by corporates that didn’t give them a 2nd look. All success stories of the modern age have a common theme, if you want to succeed, create something new and show some ingenuity, whether it be a product or a service, by offering something more/better/different/cheaper or a combination of those things, you create your own customer base.
The moral of the story? Stop waiting for someone else to improve your life, do it yourself! Don’t hate the immigrant who opened a store down the road and ‘stole’ your job, learn from them and find the next thing people want.
The below is an adaptation of the words of an American judge that deals with youth. I have tweaked it to make it more relevant to our local situation:
“Always we hear from the youth, ‘where can we go, what can we do?’
The answer is this: go home, mow the lawn, wash the windows, learn to cook, build a raft, go to the library, get a job, learn a craft, visit the sick, study your lessons, learn from those around you, and after you have finished, read a book. This country does not owe you anything, and your parents don’t owe you a life of fun.
The world does not owe you a living, you owe the world something. You owe it your time, energy and talent, so that nobody will be at war, nobody will be in sickness and nobody will be lonely again.
In other words, grow up, stop being a cry baby, get out of your dream world and develop a backbone to replace your wishbone.
Start behaving like a responsible person. You are important, and you are needed. It’s too late to sit around and wait for someone else to do something someday. Someday is now and that someone else is you!”
Now only the question remains, what are you going to do, apart from wait?
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