The Dream Deferred

So remember I spoke last week about that article written by Mark Gevisser? Well, I went to his public lecture this evening which was really very interesting. He is an acute person who I think has very unique insights into South Africa. He expresses himself eloquently too, and one looks up to him a great deal because of this.

He gave a fascinating presentation of Thabo Mbeki’s life, and illustrated how his history and where he comes from has very much shaped the way he sees the world. I’m not going to go into it right now, not only because I am tired and wish to go snooze, but because I think it is all eloquently explained in his book, The Dream Deferred. The title of the book is based on a poem by Langston Hughes, which goes like this:

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

From my understanding of what Mark Gevisser was saying, the dream is that of a utopic Africa, encompassing our aspirations as a united South Africa – the typical rainbow nation construct, where we all live happily together as one. We certainly held this dream aloft in 1994, and held it up high in 1995 and 2007 (our rugby world cup victories, for instance), but do we allow it to defer and sag like a heavy load?

The answer, of course, is that we do, because our cynicism overrides any high aspirations that we have. We either have these high aspirations, or we don’t (remember the dichotomy between the two extremes in SA?), and there is no middle ground in South Africa.

Gevisser’s interpretation of Mbeki’s idea of the dream is that it explodes, perhaps into a million little pieces that again become dreams. And so Mebki encapsulates his ideas of the African Renaissance, for instance, where we remember our roots and embrace them to continue realise our dreams.

We have this idea in our lives that the ultimate goal in life is to reach home base – we fight and we struggle and strive towards this goal. Gevisser says that we have reached that home – we have reached that goal where by and large we are, for want of a better word, free. And for sure there are instances where we are not free, and our home is by no means perfect, but we must realise that home is the platform upon which we build our dreams for the future.

I recommend you all go read the book, not only because I think it is going to give us insight into our ‘complex and clever’ president, but because it should be essentially reading for any concerned citizen of South Africa. Proviso: One should not read this book as being a complete appraisal of Mbeki, because it isn’t. It’s merely a look at the world through Mbeki’s eyes.

That is all. Goodbye. x

ps: there was an annoying man during the talk who loudly told a panelist to keep quiet for she was talking too long. Irrespective of how long this person talks, I think he was being rude, and he should be ashamed of himself.

pps: i loved how Mark Gevisser said he was a proud Johannesburger because we were a bright and intelligent city with lots of buzz. And you could see this in the massive turn out. I thought – ‘yeah baby!’

ppps: only 21 more sleeps to go before Japan!

pppps: i have a date on Saturday night with an uber sexy and naaaice bee.

The picture below? I couldn’t think what picture to put in, so I put my photo in of this park in Killarney. I loved how the Jacarandas bloomed to make this natural archway.