I was one of South Africa's biggest cynics during our build up to the 2010 Soccer Wold Cup. I was convinced that we would NEVER be able to pull it off. Our roads would never be ready, our airport was nowhere near ready, our stadium was still just a shell and the service was appalling! Every time I went out I was met with a long journey due to the roads being dug up, traffic lights out of order and unfriendly cashiers in the shops. We still had loads of crime, beggars, including child beggars, at every traffic light and corporate strikes.
Each day I was told new glum news by other cynics that would make me even less of a believer. Things like: No-one is coming from overseas, If we get 500 000 tourists for this World Cup we will be doing very well! We will NEVER be ready. Wonder how many tourists will be murdered?
The problem with living like this, is it becomes part of our daily life. It becomes part of our routine. We become negative people inside and out. We start to find fault and the negative in everything. Instead of looking for the good we immediately look for the bad. It's a very lonely life when consumed by unhappiness and negativity.
Fortunately I live in a house-share with two great friends who are sports mad and love our wonderful country. So we put up a rather large South African flag on our driveway gate one evening and I put a flag on my car aerial. Suddenly I had a change of heart. I felt part of something bigger. It was the strangest feeling, I almost felt like a traitor to my former cynical club.
I can't believe how this changed me. Suddenly everyone around me seemed happier to me too. Was it just that I was so cynical before and that I had believed so intently that we as a country could never pull it off that I could not see all the good things? How could I now help all those that still had to get the team spirit?
I found myself sitting in traffic one Saturday morning listening to Johnny Clegg's "Scatterlings of Africa" and while watching all the cars driving by with their flags flying out of windows or attached to their aerials, I found myself getting all emotional. Here was my BEAUTIFUL country, South Africa pulling together as a united nation once again to fly our colourful flag and support our team. I chose right then and there to surround myself with positive people and only let positive thoughts enter my mind.
I now saw how we had the most awesome stadium ever, our new airport is amazing and that the tourists were pouring in! Everywhere I looked I saw colour, whether it was in the form of a flag or a supporter of his/her team dressed to support. You could buy a flag of any size for any team you were supporting at any traffic light, if the light was out of order, it just meant you had more time to sort out your business deal! I was learning to really LOVE my country!
Unfortunately our team was knocked out very early, after playing exceptionally well, but that didn't stop us from supporting other countries teams. It was as though we were all family. It didn't matter what team you were supporting, everyone chatted and laughed together as though we had been friends for many years. It has been awesome. We have so enjoyed having our foreign family and friends visit us. Sharing our FanParks with all types of people from all different corners of the world has really made me realise that if you look for the good and the fun in every situation you WILL find it. The atmosphere was electric!
For a country that has been hung up on colour issues for many years now, the only colours we saw now were the colours of our flag! I think the chorus from one of the Anthems for the 2010 World Cup by K-Naan, titled "Waving Flag" summed up our nation rather well...
"When I get older, I will be stronger, They'll call me FREEDOM, just like a waving flag!"
South Africa has gotten older, it has gotten stronger, we are free and we are all waving a very colourful flag......and I have also gotten older and stronger. I am also now free and am now waving my flag!!!
Come and Visit!! Bring your flag! :)
Love of Country
Our country is our neighbor more than our community is, because our country consists of many communities. Love for our country is therefore broader and higher. Loving our country is also loving the well-being of the general public.
Our country is our neighbor because it is like a parent. We were born in it. It has nourished us and continues to nourish us. It has kept us safe from harm and continues to do so. We are to do good to our country with love according to what it needs. Some of its needs are earthly and some are spiritual. Its earthly needs center on its civic life and order. Its spiritual needs center on its spiritual life and order.
We are to love our country not merely as much as we love ourselves; we are to love it more. There is a law written on the human heart that gives rise to the statement all just people say when they are in imminent danger of dying because of an enemy or some other cause. They say that it is a noble thing to die for their country. They say that it is a glorious thing for soldiers to shed their blood for their country. They say this because that is how much one ought to love one's country.
It is important to know that if people love their country and benefit it because they wish it well, they love the Lord's kingdom after death. The Lord's kingdom is their country at that point. And those who love the Lord's kingdom love the Lord, since the Lord is everything to all his kingdom. (True Christianity 414)
Thoughts Focussed on the Negative or Positive
The focus of our dominant love is what we love above all else. What we love above all else is constantly present in our thinking, because it is in our will and ultimately constitutes our life. (True Christianity 399)
Angela was born and raised in Durban, South Africa. She attended the Westville New Church Society with her family while growing up in Durban. Angela is working for an engineering company in Durban and is very interested in and has a great passion for photography. Angela is very excited to be travelling to Norway and London during August for her cousin's wedding.