It is isn't it? What different societies consider good/bad, or rather the standards that provide a benchmark wherever you are...
Having had a pretty long stay in Australia, it'd be a bit unfair to make a direct comparison with SA, SA is a developing country (albeit with pretty developed major cities) and I've been exposed to two highly rated cities in Sydney and Melbourne.
But anyway, it's funny to hear what people bitch about here in aus compared to our seemingly more fundamental problems:
- fek, the trains late by 2minitues
- the bikey gangs had a fist fight in public
- our suburb doesn't have google streetview yet
- i had to wait for a youtube video to buffer today
The initial feeling you have is that the aussies are spoilt and they shouldn't really be complaning but that's really a testament to the fact that Aus is way more developed... It's all relative.
But that's just it, SA has a long long way to go before we can complain about such 'petty' things. The problem of course is that there is a huge gap in SA between the rich and the poor, and really that's gotta be what needs to be addressed first. I've been lucky enough to be on the right end of the stick so far in SA and as much as I'd like to have the luxury of such high end bitching, I know that it can't be priority.
Or can it?
Well, the short answer is no... But I think SA's reaching that stage where there's going to be a lot of rapid development that could sway the answer to the question. We're already at that stage in many respects, drive around Jhb and you'll see, work everywhere! buildings, roads, gautrain, malls, commercial and residential complexes, telecomms. It's awesome!
2010 is a huge catalyst that's put pressure on everyone to deliver, we should never underestimate the effect that the world cup has had (and will have) on SA!
I hope that we keep pushing with this momentum over the next decade or so. If we do, I don't think it's overly optimistic to imagine that we'll be sitting pretty and we can identify ourselves as a world force rather than just Africa's shining light.
Maybe then we can get our own bikey gangs?
optimism will get you nowhere :D
ReplyDeleteRapid development won't necessarily bridge the divide between rich and poor - it will only benefit a few of the poor and a lot of the rich. But yes, it will help the situation. But more has to be done by the government to make sure that 2010 can be capitalised and over a longer period of time! But yeah, I'm also looking forward to complaining about petty things =)
ReplyDelete