Some time ago I wrote about the conflict between striving for the luxury of having no material problems, and the inevitable consequences of achieving this state.  Put succinctly, it’s only when people are challenged that they grow, that they discover themselves, and that they remove the layer of social fat that comes with having no real issues.  People with no real issues “invent” problems for themselves.

When we arrived in the UK in 2007, my wife and I were both amazed at the trivial nature of many of the things that seemed to occupy the national psyche.  A quick glance at any given newspaper, when viewed through the eyes of a South African, would have you believe that the Brits have too much time and not enough problems.  We resolved to never lose our “third world” perspective on things.  To, in the words of Ali G, “Keep it Real”.  Well, two and a half years have passed since then, and it’s time to examine if my perspective has changed.

The UK has a mad fixation each year with which song will be number one on the charts for Christmas, as if this will somehow change the world.  And the highly competent Mr Simon Cowell has capitalised on this for the last four years in a row, spewing out banal, vanilla-flavoured inoffensive rubbish with huge success.  This year some chaps on Facebook actively promoted an alternative song as a form of protest against The Cowell Machine.  And with some success, as Killing in the Name gained the number one spot this week.  So we were left with the net effect of a crap, over-rated song by Rage Against the Machine beating a crap Miley Cyrus remake, just to Make A Point.  A mate of mine posted a Facebook comment about this, and one of his South African friends left a response that stuck in my mind.  He said something along the lines of “Who gives a shit.  In South Africa we have real problems to worry about”.  In one fell swoop it became my favourite comment of the year.

But then I gave it some more thought this morning.  Is there really any moral high ground in having problems?  Does the mere existence of issues grant kudos?  I’m reminded of the famous Monty Python sketch of the  Four Yorkshiremen, reminiscing how “toef they ‘ad it when they were yung” (read the transcript here).

Is the mere existence of suffering a noble thing?  Perhaps we confuse adversity with successful triumph over the adversity.

In the last month I’ve had to deal with desperately poor service from:

  • my former body corporate in Joburg (who want me to pay for the electricity bills of a tenant who never existed)
  • Joburg City Council (who are trying to sue me for a water bill that arose on my house six months after I sold it)
  • Kalahari.net (for being completely unable to do something as simple as take a payment and deliver a CD to a PO box address)
  • The University of South Africa (who decided in year three of Julia’s post-grad degree that she has to fly to South Africa to register, despite never having to do this before).

Anyone in SA who’s had to deal with Telkom, Eskom, the SAPS or the Joburg traffic department will know exactly what I mean.  There is no glory in mediocrity.  There is no glory in the inability to provide a basic level of service.

South Africa has achieved many great things over the last 15 years, and struggles with many meaningful and challenging issues to this day.  But to confuse this noble struggle with everyday tasks becoming difficult due to a basic lack of ability is madness.  I say it again – there is no glory in mediocrity.

So yes, a huge part of me still loves the Facebook comment in question, and I still really couldn’t care less about insignificant things like Christmas Number Ones.  But to attribute significance to difficulty just because it’s difficult is disingenuous.  It’s not being honest with ourselves.