What we do, matters. What has been done, matters. History plays out its consequences. For me, being (randomly) born in South Africa at the tail end of Apartheid had, and has, consequences.
I come from a family where politics was discussed, but I can’t remember the Rubicon speech. I was just starting to form memories, and that was not one of them. I do know it was a difficult time.
As a kid, you are really just aware of being a kid. You gradually gain consciousness of the world that you are in. In the first few years after you are born, you don’t even have the place to store your memories. You are just experiencing. It takes time to realise that your parents are separate individuals from you.
We all go through the terrible twos and tantrums, and discovering our Ego. Discovering that we don’t necessarily have to listen to all the instructions we are given. There is a process too of realising that there is a world beyond your family. A world beyond your school. A world beyond the groups that you are a part of. Gradually we get the chance of understanding our place, and our history.
There is a concept called the “veil of ignorance”. What rules for the game would you create if you didn’t know which character you were going to be?
I was 14 in 1994 when the first democratic elections took place in South Africa. Part of grappling with my story has been the existential crisis of being a white male South African. Without falling into the trap of self-flagellation, what is the balance between playing the cards you have and understanding your connection to the rest of the world?
Me, in a group in the year Apartheid ended
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