How does one find that sweet spot of balance in one's life? What is "balance"?
To be continued.....
Monday, December 15, 2014
FINDING BALANCE
To be continued.....
Sunday, December 14, 2014
BALANCE
Well, after a long absence, I have decided to bring more balance to my life by restoring the creative activities which I have neglected for so long ie writing more (including this blog)...painting...sketching...photography...music. The combination of laziness, couch potato syndrome after a hard days work, struggling to assist my adult son to find direction in life, no exercise etc etc are starting to take its toll. At the age of 56 I am starting to wonder "whats it all about"? So many places to see, so much to still do with my life with my beautiful wife......???
We get sucked into the routine of creating security and stability - we buy a house, start a family, get a job to maintain a lifestyle, become slaves to so much that is unnecessary and start losing passion and hunger for the dreams that shone so bright but now just a distant memory of what could have been. Our passions and purpose become confused and diluted as we focus our energy into so much that is good and responsible in itself but have somehow over the years enslaved creativity and purpose......
To be continued.....
Sunday, January 6, 2013
TRIBUTE TO A CHAMPION
The following tribute by Alec Lenferna appeared in the "Weekend Witness" on Saturday 5th January 2013:
The news that Burry Stander had died on the side of the road after an accident with a taxi is incredibly sad and has struck a chord with the cycling public in this country and around the world. Our prayers and thoughts go to his family because, before anything else, Burry was a husband, brother, child and friend, and not just a bike rider, and i don't think we should forget that.
Death is a thief. Not only does it rob us of life, but it also robs those left behind of the opportunities to be with the person who has died, to share their experiences and life, and to tell the deceased what we feel about them.
In 2009, I staged my first mountain bike event, in Pietermaritzburg. The challenge was a big one - it was the opening leg of the 2009 UCI MTB World Cup series. It was the first time that an event of this stature was staged in Africa, and the learning curve was steep.
Riders from all over the world arrived to prepare for the event and many of the better-known international cyclists strutted around as heroes of the piece. I got to meet pretty much everyone and the first thing that struck me about Burry was that this young guy was very quiet, almost shy in his dealings with us, but respectful and, for the most part, thankful for the chance to be competing at that level.
That was also the year that I first encountered the amazing support that Burry had among the fans. When the Elite Men's race started (at that time he was still U23, but good enough to take on the best riders on the planet), the Cascades MTB Park erupted with noise and this continued for the whole two hours of the race, right around the course, as Burry passed the fans. Burry came third that day and his place as the best cross-country rider in the country, as well as one of the best in the world, was cemented. Similar scenes unfolded at the MTB World Cup events in 2011 and 2012, where he finished ninth and second respectively. What always struck me about Burry was that whenever we asked him to do press for us or to test the track, he was always positive and very helpful, even when he became a superstar of the sport, both in SA and all over the world. He was one of the few top sports people who I have met who did not seem to change, which is a testament to him, his family and friends. Just before we did the prizegiving in 2009, he came to me and said: "Thank you so much for putting this event on. I never thought I'd have a chance to experience a top event and a day like today here in our own country". That simple sentiment has always stayed with me. He didn't need to tell me that (very few riders do), but from what I saw, that instance seemed to sum him up. Putting big events together is not always easy, and I wish that I'd told him then, or in the years since, what that small gesture of his meant to me. But it's too late now as death has robbed us of that opportunity, but apart from his ability and fierce competitiveness and skill on the bike, that one sentence and sentiment sums up my memory of him. May he rest in peace.
The following tribute by Alec Lenferna appeared in the "Weekend Witness" on Saturday 5th January 2013:
The news that Burry Stander had died on the side of the road after an accident with a taxi is incredibly sad and has struck a chord with the cycling public in this country and around the world. Our prayers and thoughts go to his family because, before anything else, Burry was a husband, brother, child and friend, and not just a bike rider, and i don't think we should forget that.
Death is a thief. Not only does it rob us of life, but it also robs those left behind of the opportunities to be with the person who has died, to share their experiences and life, and to tell the deceased what we feel about them.
In 2009, I staged my first mountain bike event, in Pietermaritzburg. The challenge was a big one - it was the opening leg of the 2009 UCI MTB World Cup series. It was the first time that an event of this stature was staged in Africa, and the learning curve was steep.
Riders from all over the world arrived to prepare for the event and many of the better-known international cyclists strutted around as heroes of the piece. I got to meet pretty much everyone and the first thing that struck me about Burry was that this young guy was very quiet, almost shy in his dealings with us, but respectful and, for the most part, thankful for the chance to be competing at that level.
That was also the year that I first encountered the amazing support that Burry had among the fans. When the Elite Men's race started (at that time he was still U23, but good enough to take on the best riders on the planet), the Cascades MTB Park erupted with noise and this continued for the whole two hours of the race, right around the course, as Burry passed the fans. Burry came third that day and his place as the best cross-country rider in the country, as well as one of the best in the world, was cemented. Similar scenes unfolded at the MTB World Cup events in 2011 and 2012, where he finished ninth and second respectively. What always struck me about Burry was that whenever we asked him to do press for us or to test the track, he was always positive and very helpful, even when he became a superstar of the sport, both in SA and all over the world. He was one of the few top sports people who I have met who did not seem to change, which is a testament to him, his family and friends. Just before we did the prizegiving in 2009, he came to me and said: "Thank you so much for putting this event on. I never thought I'd have a chance to experience a top event and a day like today here in our own country". That simple sentiment has always stayed with me. He didn't need to tell me that (very few riders do), but from what I saw, that instance seemed to sum him up. Putting big events together is not always easy, and I wish that I'd told him then, or in the years since, what that small gesture of his meant to me. But it's too late now as death has robbed us of that opportunity, but apart from his ability and fierce competitiveness and skill on the bike, that one sentence and sentiment sums up my memory of him. May he rest in peace.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
ANOTHER YEAR...ANOTHER DISASTER IN NATIONAL EDUCATION!
As 2012’s matriculants face the end of the year, Mamphela Ramphele’s new book, "Conversations with my Sons and Daughters", makes for sobering reading. Here’s an extract:
The monumental failure to successfully transform our education system undermines any effort to promote a more equitable society.
Our failure is a betrayal of the generation of young people who, on June 16 1976, stood up to a brutal apartheid regime and refused to continue to be subjected to “gutter education”.
One cannot but agree with the statement in the National Planning Commission’s (NPC’s) Diagnostic Review, published in mid-2011, that: “One of apartheid’s greatest crimes was the provision of substandard education to black people.”
The NPC goes on to admit that: “Efforts (by post-apartheid governments) to raise the quality of education for poor children have largely failed.”
The critical question is what is the cause of this failure?
The NPC states the obvious: school performance is crucially linked to the role of teachers, principals and parents.
In our situation, the performance of teachers is hampered by many factors, not least of which are absenteeism and poor content knowledge of the subjects they are teaching.
According to the Southern and East African Consortium of Monitoring Educational Quality, teachers struggle with such basic issues as calculating percentages. For example, more than half the teachers tested thought that if the height of a fence is raised from 60cm to 75cm, that represented a 15% increase.
A Human Sciences Research Council study quoted by the NPC’s report found that 20% of teachers are absent on Mondays and Fridays, and absentee rates increase to a third at month-end.
Teachers in schools serving poor African pupils teach an average of 3.5 hours per day compared to 6.5 hours in former white schools, which now serve largely middle and upper-class pupils.
Time lost by poor black pupils over the 12-year period of schooling amounts to three years.
Instead of tackling this chronic under performance in the majority of our schools, our education officials opted for lower standards of performance.
The bar between success and failure is set so low that young people do not have to exert themselves to succeed.
How else can one explain setting 30% in three subjects and 40% in another three as the qualification for a high school diploma?
Experience worldwide points to the capacity of children to rise to the expectations set for them in an environment that encourages and rewards effort and innovation. Even in our own country, 600 of the total of more than 26 000 public schools consistently outperform their peers to produce close to 100% pass rates, and higher maths and science outcomes.
The key difference between these 600 high-performing schools and the rest is in the quality of leadership and teaching, with leadership ensuring discipline in the classroom, and in the conduct of both teachers and learners.
So why is it difficult for government to make sure that teachers are in class on time and using appropriate teaching aids, despite President Jacob Zuma’s promises to ensure this?
Unionisation of more than 80% of teachers over the last three decades is a major factor in the under performance of the school system.
The SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) is the largest union, with more than 240 000 of the approximately 400 000 teachers in the country. It is a Cosatu affiliate and thus part of the governing Tripartite Alliance.
Their attitude to absenteeism is in radical contrast to that of the second-largest teacher union, the National Professional Teachers Organisation of SA (Naptosa). Sadtu’s view is: “We encourage our members to be at school on time but there is time given out (by schools) for us for union work. We do advise them (teachers) to remain on board.”
Naptosa, on the other hand, is quite clear: “Members engaging in union work during school teaching hours is behaviour we totally discourage. The time when the teacher is in front of the class is sacred.”
The conclusion is inescapable that unionism is the major focus for Sadtu, regardless of what impact it might have on learning and teaching. As one of its leaders said: “The day our militancy stops, so will our existence.”
It can only be inferred that the block vote that Sadtu represents is the impediment to the ANC government exercising its role of holding these public servants accountable.
The losers are the 13 million children who leave the school system every 12-year school cycle without the requisite preparation for life in the 21st century.
And in another quote from her book......
Mamphele Ramphele....why are you not running for president?
Sunday, January 8, 2012
LIFE...AN ADVENTURE?
Is this true? Is it realistic? Helen Keller was blind and deaf, and yet she rose above her disabilities to become one of the most remarkable women in history. The words "daring adventure"....surely challenge us to live our lives unselfishly and generously, to use our gifts and talents and to not squander the most precious gift: TIME.
My "Bucket List" includes many selfish dreams and activities such as experiencing the great annual migration in the Serengeti in East Africa...travelling across Africa in my 4x4 experiencing wilderness and diverse cultures...capturing award-winning images on film...selling my art work etc etc. My bucket list is mostly about adventures, many daring and exotic and there is nothing wrong with that, but sadly and ashamedly, it does not include anything beyond satisfying my needs and my thirst for adventure. My growing list does not include such things as devoting time to uplifting a poor community, sacrificing a holiday to volunteer in famine/disaster relief areas, inviting orphans to my home for a day to experience the love of a family, sharing my resources unselfishly and without counting the cost...
For life to be "a daring adventure", I must seize the here and now and make each moment count for eternity. I must see the daily routine of each day as opportunities to make a difference in my words, actions and attitudes. Life lived selfishly, only gratifying my desires, dreams and ambitions is truly "nothing"!
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