Stop Drugs ::: Sharing Without Shame ::.

Drugs. There is this song, I think it's the first song of a Dead Prez album where this guy explains how hunters kill wolves in the snow. What the hunters do is put a double edge blade in the snow and  the wolf would start to lick the blade. He would cut is tongue and taste the blood. He will continue to lick thinking it's another animals blood not knowing that it's actually his own blood that he is drinking. That's what's happening in our communities. The dealers that think that they making money is actually like the wolf drinking his own blood.

 What needs to happen is that the dealers or so called entrepreneurs should look at other sources of income. Our communities have a great deal of talented individuals that are brilliant at sport, graffiti (art), rapping (poetry), music ect. There is a place in PE called Gelvindale. A predominately coloured township. Now from this "township" alone we people that represented South Africa in various sporting codes. Guys like Ashwell Prince, Garnett Kruger, Robin Petersen, Alviro Peterson, Dane Klate, Wayne Parnell all come stayed a couple of blocks from each other.

 ...... With a little bit more research we will find that there are countless amounts of roll models that came from our "coloured areas". Chris Van Wyk (author), Zane Meas (actor), Ian Palmer (soccer player and now coach), Gareth Flusk (cricketer) all came from my hometown Riverlea. Stanton Federicks, Steven Pienaar, Regan Noble, Stanton Lewis all soccer players from our townships. That's not even looking at the Cape Flats. Ashwin Willimse, who was a gangster growing up went on to win a World Cup with the Bokke. Guys like Charl Langeveldt (SA cricketer), Clint Brink (actor), Tammy-Ann Fortuin (model and presenter), Justin Ontong (Cobras Cricket captain) and Breyton Paulse (Rugby) all stayed a couple of streets from one another in Paarl. The lists just go on and on. Sad that instead of these achievers being hailed as role models our communities always brand them..... "Hulle dink hulle is wit" or "hulle hou hulle warm". This is called the drag me down syndrome. Instead of saying how did they do it we find most people make excuses and shift responsibility.

Now imagine if "Klavas" and " Ma-leng" played soccer. Or Ziggies turned to music. Or Bingi became an engineer. Or Sekkie and Kinnie ran a logistics company. They all had the talent to do exactly that, what the mindset of the youngsters would be.

 Everything starts with choice. But if we even less things to choose from our choices is limited. A guy like Ashwin chose rugby instead of drugs. Jesus chose to die instead of living. Madiba chose to forgive instead of revenge. There is this booked called "The Choice" written by an ex-convict , Gayton Mckenzie who himself is from a small coloured township in Bloemfontein called Heidedal. He is now the leader of a political party, the Patriotic Alliance. If there is a book for all our youngsters to read that's the one. Even his follow up... "The Hustlers Bible". If we have to brutally honest it's in our nature to make a plan. "Jou ma sal Å plan maak om kos op die tafel te sit" . Even that tik addict will "kyk Å plan" to score another globe. Ons is Altyd op for skarrel. Always on the grind. The problem is on the grind for the wrong things. The dealers are on the grind to make money. Unfortunately that grind is the "wrong" grind. The addicts are on the grind to score another hit. Unfortunately the wrong grind.

 If there is a snake in a room full of people from different cultures, race and religions they will all react differently towards the snake. Their reactions will be based on the information they have about the snake, how they were brought up and most importantly what their point of reference about snakes are. So for instance a Chinese Person might see the snake as his next dinner, A black person might see it as danger a religious Christian might see it as evil, a Retielkundige might see, an Indian person might take out a flute and make the snake dance as he sees it as a deity  and so on and so on. The snake is just a constant. It didn't do anything yet. The snake is just there. It's the different point of references that determines the outcome for the snake and for the person involved. So with that point of reference on mind you can choose what to do about the snake. The Chinese person can then choose to eat it or not. And so on and so on. Everything in life is just a constant. Drugs, relationships, gangsterism, religion ect are all just constants. It's our point of reference and information we have about it that will determine how we react to it. And how we react to it can determine what choice we make wrt it.

 It is our duty to help our youngsters with a different point of reference in general and not only when it comes to drugs. Children do what they see and not what the hear.

 I know it's difficult to see things from a different point of view for anybody who has their point of reference entrenched in them. The worst is if we don't see the long term benefit.

So part of the solution for us and our kids is to take it day by day. A reminder that we have choices. Either we choose to get high and deal with those consequences or not get high and see those consequences. The dealers also need to change the mindset and point of reference. They selling a product. If we can change that product for them. Sounds easy but it's not. The profit and demand compare to any other product is incomparable. I know. I sound like a dreamer. But I am a dreamer. We all need to be dreamers. Dreams is mere goals. Goals that once achieved made the dream came true. So dream. I dream of an agent that comes from Eldos selling soccer players from the area to Real Madrid  I dream of people coming from far and wide to watch a musical at the Don Mateman hall. I dream of that nerd in Grade 9 from CJB finding the cure for AIDS. I dream that just what happened in Qunu recently will happen in Newclare. These are some of my dreams for us. What's yours?

 That was the last.... Hope you enjoy the read. Please feel free to correct any spelling and/or grammatical mistakes I might have overlooked and God Bless you Dereleen:-)  Joey Rasdien