“The people of South Africa make this country so remarkably fantastic. Not the government. Not the politicians. Not the bigots, racists or those trolls on social media. The hope dealers.” This is “from the desk of Good Things Guy”. A weekly bite-sized look – into the good and bad – of South Africa.
Johannesburg, South Africa (22 February 2023) – The photo below is of me doing a “talk” for a Discovery event last week. I do two to three Keynote talks a week. It’s called a Keynote because it is my job to set the tone for the event.
And my tone is that there is still hope in our country.
Sidebar: I was paid for the talk but not for this post. The fact that Discovery is in the photo means I am giving them free airtime. I do like them. I’m also in the Discovery Universe. I have all of their products, and I love most of them. The only one I can’t stand is the “Insure App”. Yes, it’s made me a better driver but it has also taught me that I will never be THEIR perfect driver.
I’m a “hard breaker”.
I digress.
Some might group me as someone who might be too optimistic. They may even call me “toxically positive” but nothing can be further from the truth.
I start every single talk speaking about the real stuff, the bad stuff, the hard stuff… to show that I am fully aware that living in South Africa is incredibly tough.
Crime.
Corruption.
Inflation – and I’m not just talking about the price of Woolies bags here.
Potholes.
Poverty.
Stage 6.
Unemployment.
Water shedding – yes, this is now a thing too.
The absolute trauma of the majority of us just trying to get by every single day.
It is tough. It’s ugly. We have an extremely complex relationship with our home. It’s exceptionally difficult but we still love it. And we do everything in our power to make it the place we love.
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The people of South Africa make this country so remarkably fantastic. Not the government. Not the politicians. Not the bigots, racists or those trolls on social media.
It’s all about the good people. The two strangers chatting in a grocery line queue. The kind South Africans crocheting blankets in the height of Summer to hand out in Winter. The group of people who risked their lives to save a drowning donkey over the weekend. The organisation saving abandoned babies. Remember the story about the newborn found floating in the Muizenberg sea? She is doing so well now with her family. The individuals who started feeding one person have since grown into organisations that feed millions monthly.
The kind South Africans.
The friendly, compassionate, caring humans.
The hope-dealers (a term my friend Mandy Wiener coined).
They are the helpers, the heroes and the people who are the pillars of our society.
They are what makes this place so incredible. And they keep pushing to make it the place we all can love.
That’s us friends. We can be these people.
So if every person who reads this made it a rule that wherever you are, whenever you can, and whoever you deal with, you will try to make South Africa a place we can all love, to help who you can, if and when you can, and maybe that you will try to be kinder than necessary to those around you… then our country (and the world around us) really would be a better place.
And I think we all deserve a better place right now.
That’s it. Let’s give each other hope. Let’s be the light for each other. Let’s just try to make it easier for others.
Yes, let’s all be hope dealers.
Okay. Love you. Bye.
by 
