Every human has four endowments; conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom. the power to choose, to respond, to change. - Stephen Covey
Someone once said Every sunset is an opportunity to reset and if there is one critical step, we all need to take in these repetitive, exhausting times, it is the need to reset. Our minds have numbed as we struggle to remember when, why and how this unprecedented intrusion on our lives all started. 2020 is now almost at the mark and most of us talk about writing off this year noting it as one of very little by way of personal achievement. Many dreams, plans, activities, adventures have simply vaporised and disappeared into the mists of time.
Against this backdrop, the past week turned into one of making a choice and responding positively to the unrelenting sense of being constrained by this spiky little virus. It seemed almost surreal to be on the open road with a destination some five hours from home. After all, we have been locked down in St Francis Bay since the end of February so this really was a big deal.
The destination early last week was Mount Zebra National Park but there was a sense of elation simply gazing out the car window at the endless flat plains and hilly outcrops which shape much of the area of the Karoo along the N10. It hasnt rained in this region since last summer but there is a unique beauty to the array of earthy colours which accentuate the different grass types in their winter state. Just short of Cradock, the Great Fish river provides life giving water to farms which flank its banks and paint a tapestry of green fields which provide fodder to livestock. It just seemed so much more noticeable on this journey.
Mountain Zebra is a gem and what started out as a 1700 ha park in 1937 has through the years expanded to just over 28,000 ha. It is best known for its crucial role in saving the mountain zebra from near extinction and now has a herd of over 1000 of these unique animals. The terrain is spectacular, spanning grassy plains and deep valleys flanked by steep mountains decked with huge dolerite rock formations. It is extremely well managed and the quality of the different
The daily diet of theft and corruption but a turning point has been reached. South Africans are seriously pissed off!
chalet and bungalow options are top class. Wild life thrives and the road trails which traverse the park ensure you see an abundance of the different animal species. The stand outs for our group included lion, cheetah and black rhino sightings. Bird life is prolific and some of our serious birder mates were ecstatic and chirping loudly about their finds. Evenings were spent huddled around camp fires regaling things that really mattered; what we had seen that day and inevitably, how soon could we get back there? Good for the soul and a timely reminder that the universe of nature survives despite humans doing their utmost to destroy so much of our natural heritage. The reset button was pushed and it delivered!
On the subject of resetting, this is how Alan Knott Craig sees it; The world is not dying. The world is resetting. Its changing from old world to new world. From analogue to digital. From flying planes to Zoom. From brick classrooms to Google classrooms. From grocery store visits to home delivery. From shopping centers to Amazon. From rush hour traffic to From print newspapers to social media. From cash payments to Zapper & SnapScan.
is forcing us to embrace a new paradigm. is a hard reset to the digital economy. The hard reset is good, even though some hard truths are being felt. It was inevitable. No amount of teacher union strikes was going to stop online learning from overwhelming brick No amount of industrial development zones was going to stop jobs going to robots.
