"I am grateful": Let's choose to Rise Up instead of Shut Down
As we face the madness online with #SouthAfricaIsBurning and the anger and violence, let's stop and recollect...
As we reach a time that many of us never, ever imagined would happen, we have two choices; we can either let this be the legacy we leave as KZNers, or we can choose to rise up and find the good in this situation.
We are all feeling overwhelmed, afraid, and angry, that is understandable. Amongst all that we have had to deal with over the past 16 months, a pandemic taking over our world, death and morbidity, losing our homes and businesses, we never thought that we would have to face a break in our one connection of being human.
Many people have come together and showed true unity during these past few days. If anything, it has shown how we can stand together as a community and as a nation. We have been sharing resources and talking to each other, uplifting one another and sharing advice. Social media has, to some extent, been used for good. But with the blazing pics and videos of violence and looting spreading like wildfire, it has been difficult to stay positive.
For some, it has been an eye opener. Where the pandemic separated us and caused a gap in our bonds, this has forced us to come together as a community, to stand together and support one another.
During a time that has literally almost derailed us from being grateful, we have found our core qualities of being human. We have found that we can rise up and join together. Communities have been sharing food and resources such as nappies and formula. They are joining hands in being humane to one another.
To those people that are sharing negative and slandering videos and photos on social media, we say, stop, think about what you are actually doing. You are not just informing people of what is going on (that's not it anymore), you are inciting more violence and hatred amongst our country, amongst our people.
Use social media to spread gratitude and kindness during these tough times. We've already seen too much sadness, let's choose to flip things around and rise up as South Africans. Let's look at your fellow South Africans' hard work and dedication before striking up that match or inciting violence against another person.
Read more: Tips for parents during civil unrest
Let's choose to be grateful today. Let's change the spirit of things and clear out all the bad energy. Let's be better humans...
Image Courtesy of Instagram