We have a responsibility towards the future, but sometimes we can’t help but look back.
As I’m sitting on the couch and playing with Buddy, I realise that he just turned 10 years old and it feels like I just received him yesterday. Our daughter Liah is almost 5 months old, and my wife and I are going for our 2nd year of marriage. Time is not your friend, at all, and we can try and avoid it but it will catch up quicker than we want. So when I think about the future, I fear it’s not as prosperous as what I’d want it to be.
But what if you had the chance to turn back a few years, would you? Would you go back and correct mistakes or leave them as they are? Could we do everything for the betterment of only our lives, your fellow man or just the world as a whole? It’s highly philosophical and gets to the debate of the impact past changes will have on the future.
Then I think of the municipality of ours who currently owe Eskom R2 Billion rand. To put that in perspective, you can give R1,50 to each and every person living in China currently and you’ll still have change.
So if they could go back in time, will they fix the mistakes? Will they weed out the corrupt? Or will they leave it be so that fate can take its toll? We would never know, but the way they are looking to the future, it seems that there’s no stopping the debt train and leaving us in the dark with details and without power as well.
One day, a few years from now my daughter will be older and facing the world on her own and life will move on, but for now I’ll just keep my finger on that dial and keep time at bay for a moment while we all try and live for the present.
