Who is SAM you ask? SAM is not one person. SAM represents millions of individuals far and wide, a correlation of comparable blokes with parallel associations or circumstantial credentials. Hominids far removed from each other, but in the same realm of time and circumstances. Brought forth in a time of politics and war, assassinations, disasters, social and political movements, space exploration, Elvis and The Beatles, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Malcolm X ... exciting but also terrifying times. SAM is neither friend nor foe … nor is SAM a victim of circumstances or beneficiary of the events and phenomena of the time.
I was born in The Sixties … the Swinging Sixties - a time of societal taboos particularly relating to racism and sexism that occurred during this time. It was synonymous with the new, radical, and rebellious events and trends of the period. In my country it was the start of radical political change with the beginning of incitements, public unrest and demonstrations. The decade that the land I was born in became “independent” and a republic and in the year I was born it was the time of the assassination of the leader of the same country. The slogans and talk of time was that this was the Wind of Change and that everything will change, but I had no understanding or familiarity of this ... I was a child at the time.
I grew up in the seventies in normal everyday domestic circumstances. Both my parents had to work to keep me and my younger brother in school. We lived comfortably and definitely not poor although we could not afford yearly vacations or a TV until I was about 10 years old. My folks were hard working honest citizens that did their expected social duty. We went to church and my parents raised my brother and me to respect the authority, your elders and all God’s creations. We were nourished, nurtured and loved and lived an ordinary urban lifestyle. We had a housekeeper who doubled as a nanny who similarly taught us respect, fairness, integrity, reasonableness and impartiality and even thought she wasn't particularly friendly also loved us until she went home to nourish, nurture and love her children. Throughout my junior and forming years I never felt threatened, scared, in danger or inferior to others nor did I feel superior or prejudiced to others.
In my senior years and as it is with any teenager rebellious years, I discovered Heavy Metal. Bands like Metallica, Deep Purple with Smoke on the Water, Boston, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath and of course Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall, but most of these albums were banned because the government feared that it might be used as a songs of liberty by children to challenge the status quo (which was also a band I liked). Yes, this was the eighties when I first heard about terrorism and the term freedom fighter became a commonly used term. We were educated about the threat of communism and world domination at school. Military service was compulsory for some and rebel military training was insisted on and expected for others. The political climate was treacherous and bombings, terrorist attacks and public violence and unrest were commonplace, but we did not think much of it. We saw masked men in tattered semi-uniforms representing the IRA and claiming car bomb attacks in Dublin and Belfast on TV and regularly heard that Sinn Féin was negotiating on behalf of the IRA. There was major civil discontent and violence in the Middle East, including the Iran-Iraq War, the Soviet-Afghan War, the 1982 Lebanon War, the Nagorno-Karabakh War, the Bombing of Libya in 1986, and the First Intifada in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
I now suddenly developed the fear of possible injury or death if I am in the wrong place at the wrong time. Friends and family were dying as soldiers (on government or revolutionary militant side) and society became suspicious and intolerant of each other and despite the fact that the Cold War was coming to an end, we were told to be prepared and geared up to defend ourselves against the enemy. Bomb attacks were more common than political scandal and the tension in the air manifested itself in every citizen and the Government became more paranoid. We were cut off from the rest of the world and sanctions against our country resulted in inflation running between 35 and 40% and we could not compete in international sporting events due to boycotts. Most literature and most movies was cut to ribbons or banned.
In the nineties after unfailing pressure on the Government, negotiations, compromises, yielding and conceding a new Government was voted in and things changed. There was the fear for the new, but this soon changed to excitement and jubilation. The international community accepted us back with open arms, we participate on all levels of international competitiveness, economically, in import and export, sport and we even won the world cup. There was hope again and people cautiously started trusting each other and respecting each other again. We were the heroes in the eyes of the international community and distinguished as the only truly democratic country that shifted from oppression to true democracy without prejudice or bloodshed during the transition, a true example for the rest of the world. Exciting times again … a new era of opportunities. A time of discovery of the World Wide Web, freedom of movement, association, speech and religion. A time of hope and promise for all.
Twenty years later and I find myself once again in a position of anxiety. Times have changed again and murder, violence and crime are endemic to society. Corruption, fraud and dishonesty are rampant and a quarter of our citizens are unemployed. Once again public unrest, strikes and public violence occurs daily. People blame each other and Government for the economical disappointments and disasters and Government in turn blame it on the mistakes of the previous Government. There is distrust again and people can’t find jobs and economic empowerment and affirmative action allows for uncertainty and no job security. Emigration and relocation to greener pastures carry on and skilled knowledge and experience is lost to other countries. The standard of living, education and ethics plunges recklessly.
Yes, I am SAM like many other SAM’s … I am a South African Male like many other South African Males. SAM doesn't experience democracy but lives in a totalitarian state. The definition of a totalitarian state? "a political system in which the state holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life wherever possible" (the current and previous Government included). SAM experiences hardship, economic turmoil, frustration and hopelessness especially if you lived in the sixties, through the seventies, survived the eighties and experienced the change in the nineties.
I would rather be a man as described by Esquire or comprehended by Barney Stinson or portrayed by Sean Connery. This is what a man should be: A man looks out for those around him — woman, friend, stranger. A man is good at his job … not his work, not his avocation, not his hobby, not his career ... his job. It doesn't matter what his job is, because if a man doesn't like his job, he should not do it. A man owns up, a man grasps his mistakes, he lays claim to who he is, and what he was, whether he likes them or not. A man looks out for children and makes them stand behind him. A man welcomes the coming of age, it frees him and allows him to assume the upper hand and teaches him when to step aside. Maybe he never has, and maybe he never will, but a man can knock someone on his ass if need be. A man does not know everything, he doesn't try, and he likes what other men know and can tell you he was wrong or did wrong. A man must always respect a woman’s beauty, complexity, compassion and courage and should never take them for granted. A man is someone who will not stand for a gentle high-five. When faced with a flimsy-five, he must repeat the action again and again until he is satisfied with the strength, loudness, and redness caused by the forceful vertical meeting of two hands. A man can do nothing but fumble and cower in the formidable shadow of his arch-nemesis … The Bra!
I am SAM and life is unfair, but so what? There’s nothing that can be done to eliminate the unfairness. Life is not fair and it never has been, and it never will be. For everyone, in different ways and at different times for each, life is difficult. Although life is not fair, there’s plenty that can be done to thrive and prosper in spite of it, and even because of it.
I choose not to me SAM, but to me MAN!
