Twenty-eight 18.12.2022

Frank McCourt: ANGELA'S ASHES

 

Sunday 18 December 2022 and we are one Sunday away from celebrating Christmas day. And I am excited about it. I want to wish you, upfront, a blessed Christmas day. May you and your loved ones experience the love of Jesus Christ in a wonderful new way like never before.

I’ve written about me reading Frank McCourt’s modern day classic ANGELA’SASHES. Oh shucks, that book leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It is revolting. The Pulitzer Prize was awarded in 1997. I wonder what the criteria are rewarding any such a prize? It is awarded for journalism and the arts since 1917. Its website is most interesting and I recommend that you visit it and have a peek at what are on offer there! After looking at some stuff on its website, I have decided that I will finish this book, gruesome, wearisome and long-winded as it is. I think it is not a feel-good book at all.

The book certainly broadens my horizons just like any other book that I’ve read – even Oxford University Press’ INTERNATIONAL LAW under the editorship of Hennie Strydom of UJ [his team of scholars were Christopher Gevers, Laurence Juma, Gerhard Kemp, Engel Schlemmer, Werner Scholtz, Frans Viljoen and Patrick Vrancken]. Even the book RAUTENBACH – MALHERBE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW Seventh Edition by my erstwhile lecturer, Ig Rautenbach; it broadens my grasp and knowledge about SA Constitutional law.

Once again, I pity those people who can read, those who are educated people, and who don’t read. Shame on you!

I once read about the Nobel Prize awards, and it was stressed, that you get a lot of books and a set timetable to comply with. And then you start reading. And so, it is more or less the same with the Pulitzer. Read. Read. Read.

I read on its website:

“There are no set criteria for the judging of the Prizes. The definitions of each category (see How to Enter or Administration page) are the only guidelines. It is left up to the nominating juries and the Pulitzer Prize Board to determine exactly what makes a work "distinguished."

What makes a work “distinguished”? Indeed. That is an open-ended question. I don’t know what other works were submitted that year when Angela’s Ashes won it and I am not going to research it. Judging by Frank’s writing style, his use of words and his ability to drag you kicking and screaming along the personal details of how many people and the filth and stench and toilet buckets overflowing with all sort of filth and hunger and throw up on the staircases and death and destruction and drunken orgies, its mishmash of Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Irish poems, hatred for the English, the unqualified national loyalty to the Irish cause, it is a distinguished book.

When you read it, the best advice I can give is probably to do so with great caution and circumspection – do not believe everything. It seems as if there is great artist’s freedom in this. And a healthy, liberal dose of a fertile imagination is the underbelly of this modern-day classic. And then there is the backlash against some of Frank’s stories. Keep on reading and keep on asking questions – don’t expect definitive answers.

Back to the Pulitzer website. There is this video: ‘How I Did It’ – The Story Behind The New York Times’ ‘Civilian Casualty Files’ It began by one reporter asking questions; one reporter who was questioning the then President of the United States of America, Barack Obama’s say-so about the body count of civilian deaths in some airstrikes carried out by the USA Military.  And she was shocked by her investigation. I even question the legal handbooks that I read; some are outright faulty and presenting a questionable narrative.

I suggest to you that if you investigate the loadshedding saga in the RSA, and if you do go deep down, you will take you own life into your own hands. It would be extremely dangerous.

I repeat Prof Feynman’s advice:

“Educate yourself about things. Study hard what interest you the most. Don’t worry about what others think of you, that’s none of your business. Train you mind to think, doubt, and question. That’s how you grow.”

On that note I leave you for today.

Please write me you story: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za

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Number 27 17.12.2022

Polyhedrons

Polyhedrons

Polyhedron

Polyhedron

Polyhedrons

St Paul is reported to have written in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 31 - 32 about marriage:

“Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother ad fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh” This mystery is profound …” ‘

This saying intrigued me for many years. And then after I tried to sketch it with two circles separate and later when they intersect. It satisfied me for some time.

Then I came/stumbled upon a three-dimensional model that is to my liking. At the moment I am building such a thinking model: first of all, it needs a hexahedron [cube] and separate from that, it needs an octahedron. I see in that a symbol of a male and a female. Then after marriage when they become one flesh, you have a compound of the two.

The compound of the octahedron and the hexahedron is quite tricky and difficult to construct. I am, however, busy with it and am quite excited about the prospect of success.

I use second-hand cardboard boxes for the construction of it. It is a bit of an activism from my side in that I object to all these perfect plastic stuff that are available. The tools that I use are very simple: a metal try-square, pencil, Stanley knife and cold wood glue. 

My intention is to make videos of these polyhedrons and to post it on my youtube channel as well as on my blog for you to look at. 

I hope that you have enjoyed it. 

Please write me your story: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za

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Number 26 16.12.2022

We are preparing to move from Morningside Sandton to Rivonia 

It is not everyday that I get reaction on my blogposts. My friend Leendert Joubert reacted to it and his reaction is helpful to think over and to decide for yourself. We all have “stuff” that are “valueless” – especially to other people. Does price enter the equation? No – it does not.

When I sold my property in Morningside, it was not my home for almost 41 years that I sold. I sold the property because the house is priceless! No one could afford to buy that house.

The bricks and mortar [every single brick we saw it when it was laid] [we built the garage big enough for my woodworking tools to fit in], glass, carpets, light fittings, door handles, built-in cupboards, ceilings [even the dust on the ceilings], my chicken coop, the stones in the garden and the vegetables that were still growing there, were not for sale. The nostalgia is within ourselves.

There were a couple of non-negotiables when I started negotiations for the selling; one was: no entry into the home itself. The purchaser was interested in developing the property and therefor, so my reasoning went, he had absolutely no interest to see the interior. And it was accepted.

Now for Leendert’s contribution:

Neels, your blog [NUMBER 24 published on 14 December 2022] [CJC] about all the stuff we gather during our lifetime, is rather thought provoking. One of the thoughts that came to my mind while reading your blog, is whether or not one should put a price tag on those items that have sentimental value.  I have stuff that have no or very little commercial value, but beware if anybody should try to steal or damage or even insult it.  You just may see the complete opposite of the so-called gentle giant or Sagmoedige Neelsie.

You might recall my effort in the genealogic newsletter about the air rifle. Nobody might be interested to buy it, and it's okay, because nobody in this world will understand the bond it provides me with my dad and grandfather. Another example is the cane walking stick, that originally was my father's fishing rod. Anybody can make a walking stick from a piece of cane for less than twenty rand, but mine is not for sale for any amount of money. And still, I doubt if any of my children would want it. It just won't fit in with their lifestyles or living conditions. Neither can I see it on display in a museum. Chances are that it ends up on a dump site covered by thousands of tons of sand and soil and rocks and other people's stuff, just to be discovered a million years hence by some curious aliens. Apparently the same would apply to the grotesque hand I sculpted from the roots of a camphor tree, or the image of a three-legged pot I carved out on a plank to serve as stand for my potjiekos pot.

Do we really have a responsibility to conserve all the stuff, or is there a guideline to distinguish between stuff and real valuable items, or is it acceptable to take a photo of it and store it in the cloud, where nobody can access it if they don't have my password?  

His ideas are worthwhile to keep in mind; if you are in position to do something about it, to do that thing, more so if it is your last thing that you do. “Sagmoedige Neelsie” is a reference to one of my countries most prolific and loved authors of many years back: C.J. Langenhoven who lived most of his life in Oudtshoorn Western Cape. I can recommend Dominique Malherbe’s book SEARCHING FOR SARAH THE WOMAN WHO LOVED LANGENHOVEN. She casts another light on this Afrikaner icon and I must say it is revealing and not altogether flattering on Neelsie. I know her book was not about the drunkard, Advocate Langenhoven, but about her aunt Sarah Goldblatt; she tried to tell us about her aunt. She succeeded and left a great many questions in the wake of the waves her book stirred up.

Considering Dominique’s book, it is also another way of preserving a legacy. Do your research and write your story.

My friend’s grotesque hand that he carved is another thing altogether. They uprooted a camphor tree in their backyard, he kept it and recently he started carving this hand. And the hand lost its thumb in the process; he tells me that there was a weakness in the wood but he kept that “thumb.” He craftily put it back; my “woodworking-surgeon friend.”

Leendert's hand carved from a tree stump

Leendert's hand carved from a tree stump

Leendert's potjie carved from pine

The three-legged pot he carved years ago is still serving its purpose.

We are creating legacies as long as we are alive and as long as we live. Some years ago, I attended a funeral service of a friend who was a member of a woman’s co-operative. She focused on baking milk tarts. That went on for years. And she apparently kept notes about this lot.  Another friend who presented the eulogy, told us how many kilograms flour she used baking all of those milk tarts. And how many tins of condensed milk went in there. How many hours she spent in the kitchen; how many kilometers driving around in her car buying the ingredients and sourcing new ingredients and then delivering the baked items to the co-operative and how many hours she spent servicing the clients.

The same reasoning applies to Frank McCourt’s books. I am busy reading his modern-day classic: ANGELA’S ASHES. That is part and parcel of his legacy. You will think that you cannot attain that because, so your reasoning goes, you cannot write. That is besides the point. You have a legacy while you are reading this post. You should do anything possible to preserve some of it. If you don’t do it, who will? If you don’t do it now, when will you do it?

On my desk in my office, I have a lot of literature that I am busy reading. Every single book that was written by a single author or more than one is a legacy. And that is their legacy – for the moment. The law treatises will get dated and then their time is up. And new treatises will have to be written. And so, the cycle goes on and on an on … Judges come. And judges go. And they pass judgement because that is what a judge is called to do. Blog-authors come. And blog-authors go. That is the way life is. Prime Ministers come and go. Some faster than others, ask Me Liz Truss in the UK about it.

Prof. Dr Feynman allegedly said:

“Educate yourself about things. Study hard what interest you the most. Don’t worry about what others think of you, that’s none of your business. Train your mind to think, doubt, and question. That’s how you grow.”

This ties in with the saying: Try to learn something of everything and everything about something. 

I suggest to you that it is imperative in life. Get on with the job and tell me your story please: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za

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Twenty-five 15.12.2022

Johan Heins

 

It is not raining today. Well, the day has barely begun. It might change suddenly.

We are living in a strange world. I am fortunate to live long enough to experience how society [societies] have changed. When I was at school, I was always taken aback at the school essay assignment with a title similar to this: “How do you see yourself 50 years from date of your birth?” Being born in 1950 it meant that I should have had a look at myself in the year 2000. Of course, a lot of things happened that changed the world: Dr Chris Barnard’s heart transplant operation at Groote Schuur Hospital, Western Cape; the moon landing and Neil Armstrong walking on the moon and how many subsequent human visits to the moon. There would be five more successful lunar landing missions, and one unplanned lunar swing-by. Apollo 13 had to abort its lunar landing due to technical difficulties. The last men to walk on the moon, astronauts Eugene Cernan (1934-2017) and Harrison Schmitt (1935-) of the Apollo 17 mission, left the lunar surface on December 14, 1972.

Do you recall the international frenzy and hype around the turn of the century? The turn of the millennium? What is going to happen to us? All the computers world-wide will crash! The aeroplanes will not be able to take off or worse still every aircraft will come tumbling down just like Humpty Dumpty.

And it came. And it went. Nothing at all of all the predictions were fulfilled Nothing. The Truth About Y2K: What Did and Didn't Happen in the Year 2000? – that was the BIG question. It was really a big hype about nothing. A big ballyhoo! To refresh your memory, follow these few links.

And we are living to tell the tale! I can recount countless “prophesies” that were not worth anything at all. Not even ballyhoo! Maybe B.S? Politicians and the guys standing around at a braaivleis with a drink in their hands!

I recall two elderly Afrikaans gentlemen talking about the imminent “demise” of the Dutch Reform Church – the death of this Church was so seriously discussed and they were so sure of themselves that it would happen within a couple months. That is some years back. And I, and they, still attend the same Church – their “sure” predictions, were also B*** S***. The very same negative “predictions” of the end of this Church circulated in the media shortly after Prof. Dr Johan Heins, was brutally and callously assassinated in front of his wife and grandchildren inside the sanctity of his home. It was not the end of the Church. 

There is this other instance when I sat and listened with growing irritation and incredulity about the secession of the Western Cape to become an independent country. That was also on the cards within six months from that moment we were having a braai. It was so “well planned” that even the borders of that new independent state were published: it included Pretoria, parts of Randburg, parts of Alberton and it excluded specifically Johannesburg inclusive of Sandton and surrounds. Wow! That is detailed planning! And it was really imminent. “Everybody was waiting for this wonderful event to take place. This is now almost two years ago. And I am happy to state categorically and without fear of contradiction that it was totally and utterly false and just a ruse. I tried to get the internet links to publish it on my blog to this lot of rubbish especially the so-called “borders” of this new born state but was not successful. It was taken down.

Please write me your story: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za

 

 

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Number Twenty-Four 14.12.2022

Two roosters

 

It is still raining in my part of the world. The soil is wet and it seems as if the plants had enough.

In any case, life is on the go and we should live until the moment we breath our last.

What are you reading? I am of the view that if you can read, but don’t, you are worse off than a guy who can’t read. I don’t understand it if some-one stops reading. I don’t understand when a graduated person stops reading!

I was given a magazine WANTED [published by BUSINESS DAY] to have a look at. It is only for the very rich. There are advertisements of motor vehicles in there that are limited editions and which are specially once-off built for special clients. Price range? 20 million Pounds sterling. I read a back page write up on an heirloom that is no longer in the possession of the family. It is in a museum. And the author is of course rather nostalgic about it.

Just the other day, my group of genealogists, had a meeting that was dedicated to one topic for that meeting. The topic? What do you do with your “stuff” when you pass on? This is an evergreen topic, not so? When you start off in life, your goals are different from that of your parents. And that in itself is not a bad thing.

Your “stuff” is not necessarily only photographs, it might be a saxophone, furniture, vehicles or tools. You can add to the list. It might include sculptures or paintings.

You will have to deal with it because you and I will not live for ever and a day. And then your estate has to be wound up and the heirs will stand in a queue to receive. What then?

Photos, your letters, and so on might be uploaded to the internet. You will say to me that you can take pictures of the furniture and upload it to the internet site of your choice, of course I have to agree with you. My question remains: what will happen to that saxophone? Those precious antique chairs? That very valuable Persian carpet?

Does it mean that because you don’t have a clear-cut answer to this question, that you should stop acquiring things? Should you stop painting beautiful oil paintings? Stop sculpting? Stop making wooden furniture?

Of course not!!

A thousand times: NO DON’T STOP LIVING.

Please we should continue to live full out and flat out till we drop dead. I want to keep on doing research into difficult legal questions and writing legal papers. I want to keep on helping clients and go to the High Court. I want to keep on making plants and to sow seeds and to plant a tree – even if I will not be able to sit in its shade.

I want to hear from you what your thoughts are about this matter?

Please write me: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za

 

 

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Number twenty-three 13.12.2022

 

It is still raining in South Africa and as my wife would say, she always is of that opinion, “It is raining outside.” How grateful am I that it is indeed raining outside. There are how many people who are suffering the degrading circumstances when their homes are flooded – from the outside to the inside.

I had a lovely conversation with my brother-in-law who lives in Wellington, Western Cape about the weather and the rainfall in his part of the world. He is a geologist. He tells me that since last Sunday evening when it started raining in his town, till this morning they had 72mm and it is still drizzling. He is not aware of any damages or injuries in his town. The Western Cape is in a winter rainfall area and no rain in summer, and yet it is raining there.

Sutherland, Northern Cape Photo number one

Sutherland, Northern Cape Photo number two

His sister, who lives in Sutherland, Northern Cape, sent him photos she took of the devastating downpours they had there yesterday – after a seven-year drought it poured 105mm in a matter of some hours. The connecting road from their farm house to the main road is destroyed and her husband battles to get to the tarred road. Places around their homes, that they got used to as being bone dry, is now a wetland. Next to the house there in now a “river” flowing – that is what it looks like, but it is not, it was a day or two before the rain, bone-dry rock-hard soil. In a matter of moments that place was changed to something they don’t know how to handle. Photo number one shows “a river” which is not a river but gushing water from a ridge not far from the homestead and number two shows the area where it came to “rest.” Hours earlier, it was bone dry, hard baked brown soil.

My one neighbour keeps meticulous records of the precipitation for many, many years [19 years in Houghton and 19 years in Rivonia]. The average rainfall for Houghton for 19 years were 142mm and for Rivonia for the last 19 years were 162mm. For the first 12 days in Rivonia, it is 80 mm.

The video is just outside my office. The drizzling is so reassuring and have a calming effect on me. During the night I woke up with this sound. And I was praying for the people who were fleeing the storms and who were suffering as a result of the water flooding their safe places: their homes.

Please write me your story: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za

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Number Twenty-Two 12.12.2022

The destruction of the Temple in 70aD

 

Witnesses! 

Ah, that is an interesting topic in law. And in practical everyday living. And it is highly relevant in my life as a Christian.

Where shall we start? One can write an entire doctoral on this topic alone, but I am not going to do that.  

I recall one High Court murder trial where I was sitting as an assessor, with the judge, who has passed away where the one witness made a huge impression on us. She was the daughter of the accused; he was accused of the killing of his wife, the witness’s mother. I won’t “entertain” you on the grizzly details of that atrocious deed. Truth be told, there were lots and lots of matters where witnesses made such an impression on me that I can hardly forget it. Some were reliable witnesses. Some totally and utterly unreliable and deceitful and completely depraved.

Let us return to the daughter and her father and the court proceedings.

The accused had an alibi as a defence.

Bear in mind that if an alibi fails, then the accused, whoever it might be, is guilty.

While she gave evidence, she looked straight at the accused and pointed her finger at him and said: “He killed my mother.”

That was still chilling. Goosebumps. “He killed my mother.”

And his alibi was clearly presented to the court that at the time of the killing, he was with his daughter at a restaurant and therefor he could not have done it.

The court had to deal with this heart-breaking evidence. How does that fit in with his defence? Does it have a direct and substantial bearing on the evidence presented by the State? How does that have a bearing on the rest of the evidence? We had to deal with that. And we dealt with it.

The State presented its evidence. The police did not do a good job of the investigation. The police had to go back to the scene of the crime how many months after other people started renting the flat and were living there. They failed to investigate the alleged killer’s home and his clothing and his bathroom and so on and so forth. The time frames presented by the State and the time frames presented by the accused were meticulously looked at and analysed.

The court came to the conclusion that the horrific deed was committed at a specific time within the time frame of his alibi. And the time frames of both the State and the accused were so closely related that it is too flimsy to convict him. We were satisfied that it would have been highly difficult to kill, leave the scene, wash and clean up the get-away vehicle, clean up the house, if that was where he cleaned himself, and be with his daughter all at the same time.

We found him not guilty; we stressed the philosophy behind an acquittal that it is not a finding that an accused did not commit the alleged crime. It is only a statement that the State failed to prove the guilt of the accused. If my memory serves me correctly, the court was, subjectively, of the meaning that he did it but objectively the alibi succeeded and consequently he was found not guilty.

This brings me to the circumstances surrounding the judicial killing of Jesus Christ, His embalming, His entombment, and the earth-shattering events three days later: His resurrection and aftermath of these events.

It is obvious that we do not have the eyewitnesses nor the original documentation with us; we are stuck with mostly the New Testament and documentation after these events. And I am further hampered by the fact that I cannot read the original languages. I am relying on the Afrikaans text, English and modern Dutch. On a balance of probabilities, I am satisfied with those documents. These are the most reliable documents pertaining to the Christian faith. Even more reliable than the historical documents about Julius Caesar.

The requirements to have been an apostle were stringent and the requirements to fill the place of Judas, the traitor, were just as stringent. You can read it in the Book of Acts of the Apostles chapter 1: 13 - 26 and I quote it verbatim:

“And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James.

All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. “For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) “For it is written in the Book of Psalms, ‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; and ‘Let another take his office.’ “So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, “beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen “to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.” [My emphasis].

The apostles, for certain, knew that this would make or break the Gospel of Jesus Christ! And it is just as true then, as it is at present.

Do you believe that? If not, what are your reasons? If yes, bless you.

Please write me your story: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za

 

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