Tuesday, January 12, 2016

South African Exploitation of Workers at it's Best

I have heard a lot of people complain about the car guards at shopping centres.  Did you know that there are companies that have contracts with various businesses in shopping centres ie. Woolworths, and they put their own car guards at the parking areas outside of the businesses that they have contracts with.

What I find absolutely unforgivable about these CAR GUARD COMPANIES is that they make the car guard pay for his uniform and also pay a “standing fee” per day to the car guard company.  The “standing fee” can be anything between R25.00 and R100.00 per lane, and is collected from them by the Car Guard Company.  So before the car guard gets his first R1.00 from you, the owner of the vehicle, he has to pay for the privilege of guarding your car to the Car Guard Company who has a contract with whichever business it is that has the parking bays.   So before you start shouting at the car guard, think about the exploitation of the person who stands in all kinds of weather, guarding your vehicle while you do your shopping inside the malls.  I don’t know how we can stop this exploitation of people, but I hope that the owners of the Car Guard Companies have very bad nights.  And don’t tell me that the businesses such as Woolworths, Pep Stores, Game etc., don’t know that these people are being exploited.  Shame on the businesses which have car parks!!!   Shame on the Car Guard Companies!!!  Shame on us all for allowing this kind of thing to happen to our own people!!  

Friday, January 8, 2016

"White Consciousness"

South African Squatter camps for whites 
…the type of white man we have today has lost his manhood.  Reduced to an obliging shell, he looks with awe at the black power structure and accepts what he regards as the ‘inevitable position’.  Deep inside his anger mounts at the accumulating insult, but he vents it in the wrong direction… No longer does he trust leadership …nor is there any trust.  In the privacy of his toilet his face twists in silent condemnation of black society but brightens up in sheepish obedience as he comes out hurrying in response to his master’s impatient call.  Around his braai, he joins the chorus that roundly condemns the black man but is first to praise the government in the presence of the police or his employers.  His heart yearns for the comfort of black society and makes him blame himself for not having been educated enough to warrant such luxury.  All in all the white man has become a shell, a shadow of man, completely defeated, drowning in his own misery, a slave, an ox bearing the yoke of oppression with sheepish timidity.
This is the first truth, bitter as it may seem, that we have to acknowledge before we can start on any programme designed to change the status quo.  It becomes more necessary to see the truth as it is if you realise that the only vehicle for change are these people who have lost their personality.  The first step therefore is to make the white man come to himself; to pump back life into his empty shell; to infuse him with pride and dignity, to remind him of his complicity in the crime of allowing himself to be misused and therefore letting evil reign supreme in the country of his birth.  This is what we mean by an inward-looking process.  This is the definition of ‘White Consciousness’.

(All I have done is change the words black and white around – this was written by Steve Biko and it is 100% true of the majority of our white citizens today) 

Thursday, January 7, 2016

When Your Heart Calls


There is a voice within which sometimes gets our attention and reminds us of how good and beautiful we are.  It calls us from a time long ago when we first arrived through time and space. Those first moments were filled with pure joy and pure adventure.  Whenever you meet someone today with a pure, brave, daring and trusting heart; let them remind you of yourself during those first years of your life.  They invoke the purity of your own heart and invite you to be playful again. 

It is the truth that we are all pure in heart… always.  It is only what we accumulate and learn from the world around us that blocks our heart.  All negativity is learned and therefore can be unlearned.  All depression is the result of the illusion that we have lost something, when in truth, we cannot lose what is of true value to us; the eternal qualities of our own spirit, our own self.  In a quiet moment, listen for your heart’s call.  It will tell you everything is fine; there is no need to struggle and that you are beautiful just as you are … and you will be again. 

God's Presence

© Dianne Lang
Thou who are within and without, above and below and all around;.  Thou who are interpenetrating the very cells of our beings; Thou who art the eye of our eyes, ear of our ears and heart of our hearts, mind of our minds, breath of our breaths, life of our lives, soul of our souls - Bless us.


Dear God, to be aware of thy presence now and here…this is all we ask of three. May all be aware of thy presence in the east and the west, in the north and the south, may peace and goodwill abode among individuals as well as among communities and nations.  This is our earnest prayer.  
May peace be unto all !

Monday, January 4, 2016

The Grace to Receive

The art of receiving is an aptitude that is far more difficult to attain than the act of giving.  To give with you heart is easy…it makes you feel good about yourself.  
But the act of receiving can make you feel inferior and undignified.  The receiver does not see that it is possible for you to get the thing yourself, or that you may be wary that the giver will one day extract payment for it.  And then there is our own self-worth that comes into “receiving” – the feeling that we do not deserve to be treated well.   It is a good idea to practice receiving with the same grace as that which is used when you give. 

The Alien Thing Surrounding My Spirit

I don’t belong in my body anymore.  It is an alien thing that carries the core of me around.  It does not fit; it is uncomfortable and is almost manikin-like in its oddness.  My body and movement is no longer a reflection of who I am inside.  There are two punishments in life that are incredibly cruel.  One is to isolate a person from love and society and the other is to live with an incurable, rare and debilitating disease.  I have experienced both. My body that is the vessel that holds my soul is crumbling and dying infinitely slowly.  My spirit can still soar like an eagle through the sky, with a gentle breeze pushing it along so that my soul flies unimpeded and on gentle wings.  Is this my punishment for mistakes in my past?  Does this physical suffering have a purpose other than to make me more aware of the suffering of others?  It takes enormous effort not to allow my body to impede my spirit.  Sometimes I just get lost.  Sometimes I feel like I am trying to empty the ocean with a bucket and all attempts to heal this body are in vain.  I am not my body.  I am spirit but I am also imprisoned in this human shell.

Will my body and my spirit be forever separated here on earth?  Will I not be able to physically do the things I long to do?  May the Maker of us all give me the strength to endure.    I am now a living, breathing, and mirror image of a TellyTubby grandmother. 

Sunday, January 3, 2016

My Race Card

I need to make something perfectly clear to everyone who is a FB friend.  I am not for, nor against any racial group.  I am not a liberal who is presumptuous enough to think that I have to fight the battle for the blacks.  I am not a right winger who is presumptuous enough to think that I have to fight the battle for the whites.  I do not care what colour your skin is and I expect the same respect for the colour of my skin.  It is what is in the heart that makes a person human – it is what is in the heart that lures me to one group or another, depending on circumstances.   I will not apologise for the colour of my skin, but I will defend myself when faced with racism.  I will also defend anyone who says anything racist about another racial group.  If someone is an arsehole, it does not matter what colour his skin is; he is still an arsehole.  And if someone is an angel in disguise, it does not matter what colour the skin is.  Do not expect me to sidle up alongside any particular group colour because I will not do so.  We are all members of the human race and that is the only thing that concerns me when it comes to my dealings with people.  Humans are connected on all levels so therefore the happiness of one becomes the joy of all, and the grief of one becomes the sorrow of all.

Saturday, January 2, 2016

I Will Run

Lost like tears in the rain
I am lost.   Who am I and why am I here?  The same questions asked over thousands of years and yet, each one of us at some time or another will ask those same questions.  I have had an awful day so far, a day when I felt lost like tears in the rain, not knowing if there is any reason for being.  Today was the day I had set aside to kill myself.  I had decided that if I could not get any medication to control my pain, I would allow my spirit to leave this earth today.
Three weeks ago I was prescribed the medication – an injection every 6 hours which gives me 4 hours of pain relief and only 2 hours of despair – and that goes on day after day.  Four hours without pain is a gift that is indescribable to someone who has not had chronic and debilitating pain. 
Do I run away from or do I run to life?  And as though I hear the voice of God speaking directly to me I know which way to go.

I will run for my life and I will run towards helping my fellowmen.  I will forever run towards those who can't run, who can't speak, who can't choose ... I will run.  I will run to defend others, but I will run to defend myself and the truth at all or any cost.  I will run.