Now that I am going to be a father (yes that is something that is happening, thank you) I have thought about leaving a legacy. You know something for future generations to inherit and form an identity around. The previous generation left my generation with a damaged, worn out post apartheid country that we have been trying to put back together for 20 years in the face of lingering segregation, corruption, and an increasingly strained economy. I am starting to sound like a media statement. Oh and they also left us a library of classic TV shows like Dallas re-mastered in a 40th anniversary DVD box set. Full disclosure that was sarcasm.
The point is growing up in South Africa has never been a cake walk and instead of fighting an oppressive government for equality and freedom of speech we are fighting a plague of corruption in the government or parliament fiascos, and by fighting I mean ranting about it on Facebook. I get to rant about it in official media, how cool am I? That is not even mention popular culture. In a world with Miley Cyrus, and Kim Kardashian and my parents thought that punk rock was bad? It is a sad day when a 28 year old man is already complaining about the kids of today.
Really people I am really not sure what South Africa will look like in 10 year’s time when the babies of today are old enough to understand the impact of what is going on around them. I can only imagine staring suspiciously out of the windows at every passer by or locking the poor child up in a tower to protect it from the cruel world below until some brave warrior or social services comes to their rescue. Brain has informed me that locking anyone up anywhere is a very outdated notion.
But how in the world do we protect our damn kids from the world? Like the 15 year old girl who allegedly ran away with her 25 year old boyfriend. Look I don’t know what happened there but whatever made that child think that she knows better and thought that what she is doing is ok, needs to be looked at. I don’t know whatever made that grown man think that there would be no consequences for apparently dating a 15 year old girl.
Well at least we can take comfort in the fact that we will leave future generations with better TV shows like Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and the Walking Dead…Oh wait never mind.
