This one goes out to all optimists out there. Our glasses are half-full, and even in the midst of many intolerable challenges in our country, we remain positive about the future.
It's not that we're blind to the many things that people hate about this country. Crime is so high it sometimes even seems out of control. The HIV pandemic is claiming thousands of lives continually.
Some of us have suffered directly from crime. We've had our houses broken into and our cars stolen. Others have even survived gun shots, and unluckier ones are dead.
Worse still, our politicians don't seem to care. They live large, and their ethical standards are not so high. They go for the most expensive car on the dealership floor just because the rules allow it.
But we know that the rest of us are not the sum of our politicians and their laxity.
We are a country of about 48 million people, and these large-living politicians and cold-blooded criminals - even when combined - make only a tiny percentage of this wonderful population.
Many of our fellow citizens have gone overseas amidst vociferous lamentations of our state of democracy, pointing to the many flaws inherent in the rainbow nation.
But when they come back after realising that the grass is actually greener here, they sneak in quietly at the international arrivals check-points, disappointed and, finally, down to earth.
We know that we deserve better political leadership, but we are also aware that our politicians are not of different species than politicians elsewhere in the world.
Many of the problems we face here are similar to the problems faced by billions of other citizens around the world: corruption, poverty, racism, underdevelopment, poor political leadership - all too familiar in other countries.
Many of us, blacks and whites, bemoan policies such as Black Economic Empowerment in equal measure, pointing to a resultant widening gab between the rich and the poor.
We are united in our opposition to many corrosive tendencies by those in high places, divided only by the same people in high places who play the race card for their own agendas.
The poor here still maintain a smile, a genuine one, hopeful of a better tomorrow. We have no yearning for the past. We’re looking ahead, and we see progress around us.
Our infrastructure is world class, and we're still working on improving it.
Next year, we will become the first African country to host a FIFA World Cup, and we know that this is our time to host the world football fraternity in a uniquely South African way.
Johannesburg is not London, or New York, or Paris. There is no tube here. We’ll make do with what we have.
The police, under pressure from FIFA, will be out there, tanks on the streets, ready to disburse throngs of hooligans; but sorry, we don’t have hooligans here - unless they fly in from England.
The grass is greener here.
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Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyNews24 have been independently written by members of News24's community. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. News24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.