Monday, July 13, 2015

An Interesting Perspective

When it comes to matters of politics and current events in South Africa, I spend a lot of time eavesdropping on other people's conversations, reading articles, and trying to understand the varying opinions of the locals. 

So what do people who are from South Africa think? What do they think about the current challenges the country is facing? And what do they think about the past?  The answer is (of course) that there are as many opinions, thoughts and viewpoints as there are people. As Facebook taught us, sometimes it's best to use the phrase it's complicated.

I recently read two articles written by a South African man named Trevor Kleinhans. Trevor is an author and a professional speaker. He has lived a fascinating life and because of his personal history, Trevor believes in being very, very honest. I encourage you to check out his website so you can learn more about Trevor and view his videos. You can order his book on Amazon as well. I look forward to reading it in the near future. Trevor's website is secretsmakeyousick.com and you can follow him on twitter @secretsmakeusic

We can never know what all South Africans think, but we can know what Trevor thinks and I am sure you will agree what he thinks is quite interesting as are the reader comments that follow both articles. 

I learned a great deal from reading Trevor's thoughts and I appreciate his candid opinions about the state of affairs in South Africa. In the first article, he writes about many of the issues that are currently of concern to people here. In the second, he gives some background about his personal history and how he came to form his opinions. 

In the U.S. many people have strong beliefs about what path the country should take, or who is responsible for our troubles. Mix these thoughts with passion and love for the country and it can get very heated. It's no different here. 

I look forward to sharing the thoughts of various South African citizens with you over the course of this blog. Here are the links to Trevor's articles:



1 comment:

  1. I read the second of the two articles. While interesting I don't see why he felt he was a racist. I think he is being too hard on himself. I also think that holding the apartheid govt responsible for everything that was wrong in the black community then and since makes little sense. While the other countries in Africa that had white governments discriminated in various ways they fell far short of apartheid. Yet these countries had far more troubles after independence than SA has had. Many of them are still a wreck after 50 to 60 years. Are we to blame racism forever. I feel that he is overcompensating for the indoctrination he received under compulsory service.

    What the whites did was wrong and I am not trying to excuse the past but people have to be held responsible for violent and criminal behavior regardless of race or past treatment. One closing thought... I don't think that SA will become Zimbabwe. Despite the many problems the political arena is surprisingly diverse. The ANC must reform but this will have to come post-Zuma. The principle worry is the EFF. If they ever achieve control then Zim will be right around the corner.

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Hello and thank you for taking an interest in my blog. This blog tells the story of some big life changes. First, my husband and I have just moved to Geneva, Switzerland for a few months following a few years of living in Johannesburg, South Africa. The two places could not be more different. I'm excited to share our adventures, challenges and insights with you! My thoughts and opinions are my own.