Barack Obama, Melinda Gates & Bill Gates at the Goalkeepers Conference 20 September 2017
Engage
change! Me as an individual? You must be joking! Or are you serious? Yes - this is serious. The challenge to me as an individual is to engage change, not only in my professional life, but also in my private life where I, at this moment, face massive challenges.
Is SA a better place now post apartheid? Why do I ask these questions? It all started when I listened to Mr Obama's speech at the Bill & Melinda Gate's Goalkeepers Conference on 20 September 2017. It was midnight when I listened on my iPad and found the speech to be very good. In SA we are getting desensitized about crime and all the negatives in life. Is there something better? Can I as an individual really do something positive and make a difference? I argued with myself that it is easy for Obama and Bill Gates to talk - with all the money and influence they muster.
Then Obama said something that pricked my ears. He was referring to the individual who is doing something positive and making a difference. I am an individual and maybe he was speaking to me.
And that is exactly the position of Jacques Pauw: he is an individual and he did something positive! During November 2017 he wrote a blockbuster book that is a sell out within days. The title of that book is THE PRESIDENT'S KEEPERS.
I as an individual can and should engage change. That is what Barack Obama said: it was the individual who started it - perhaps the single mother with a sick child, perhaps an elderly parent who died as a result of some illness and it challenged a child to do something. Jacques Pauw says it was the appointment of Des Van Rooyen as Minister of Finance of SA that started him thinking and it culminated in his book.
Was this possible during the apartheid era? I don't think it was.
This exactly Obama's message: We should engage change but do it realistically
and be aware of the often seemingly insurmountable problems. It is not blind optimism; it is relentless optimism. He says the test is when you are in the field and on the ground working at your goals and when people are resisting, misunderstanding or purposely undermining you - that is your real test. How do you respond? He calls us to reject cynicism and to press on with the job of making the world a better place to live in. We should not be afraid to work.
The DA is challenging
the President all the time; they are trying their best. Solidariteit is
challenging the status quo all the time.
Engage
change!
This challenges me in my professional life BUT also in my private life with the personal challenges that I wrestle with moment by moment!!! Life happens! And what is my response? May God grant me the wisdom and grace to rise victoriously!
