Window dressing - but it's a start!

Isn’t it amazing how the naysayers always manage to pop out of the proverbial woodwork when good things are happening … as with today’s 67 minutes of goodwill in honour of the late Nelson Mandela?

As a nation we are asked to give 67 minutes’ of our time and talents towards making the world a better place. Our namesake and one of the world’s greatest statesmen gave 67 years of public service to South Africa and the world, so surely 67 minutes of our time once a year is not too much to give to bettering conditions for others and our environment?

And, of course, it isn’t. Any time that we sacrifice to try to make life better for another person is a huge plus, so why do folk still complain.

Why do folks moan about this annual goodwill offering by ordinary people in usually very ordinary circumstances? Why do they consistently pull out the “window dressing” trump card, claiming that this 67 minutes of giving is little more than an opportunity to show off to those who are interested enough to care, that we apparently care.

If you cared, they whine, you’d be doing it all the time. You’d be up and at them serving the least, lost and lonely in a full time capacity. You’d have signed up with the local green society or voluntarily offered your services to the less fortunate in some form or other.

These 67 minutes in the name of Nelson Mandela, they drone on, is nothing more than window dressing; it allows you to boast to friends about your good deeds and eases your selfish conscience. That’s all it does – so quit the window dressing they cry because you don’t really care.

Ouch. Gulp!

Hold on. Hokaai. Not so fast.

You see this so-called window dressing, this endeavour to help in the name of Madiba and this one day of disjointed dallying to put a band-aid on South Africa’s many ills is A START!

And we have to start somewhere. Our efforts to do what we can where we can, may be misguided, misdirected and even totally off target, but at least something is happening. It’s a start.

I am confident that the more we roll up our sleeves and get others to do likewise, the more likely we are to make volunteerism a way of life in South Africa. In short, if we “window dress” long enough, we’ll eventually get to the real issues.

So please stop pointing those cynical fingers at those who may have headed out to a township to provide soup for the first time in their lives. That experience may be the trigger to something better in terms of making a substantial difference to the less fortunate, but even if it doesn’t the input by one individual made a positive impact on someone else’s life today.

Put those judgmental tongues away and use them to foster, encourage and grow a spirit of volunteerism in this country. There’s huge goodwill in our country – and especially at NMMU as many of us have witnessed today – to make South Africa a better place for all her people.

Happy Nelson Mandela Day!