Poverty does indeed have a face. And it is not a pretty one. You can recognize poverty even if it is in disguise. It is something in the attitude, the gestures, let's say the whole composure. Poverty leaves its mark on the mind of the ones affected by it.
How would you like to remember poverty once it is over. Would you like to remember its face at all or simply close the lid over the box? Would you like to remember your parents poverty and their long and arduous walk to a better and more abundant life, that they swore to give to their children. Must the pain of our ancestors be remembered and respected or should the young ones just move on and not be burdened by memories of lived misery of the elder generations.
As children we more or less have a choice to remember the hardship of our parents or not, but for our parents and grandparents it's another story. The one who has lived in extreme poverty can never forget and all his actions in life are geared towards avoiding the circumstances he has escaped with some much effort.
Men and Women who have lived through and fought in the Second World War often talk until the end of their lives of this event. In the later years of their lives they become more silent because only then the memories become more easier to bear and slowly the pain fades away. Age does help with the process of forgetting.
But the thing is this is a very confused world. There are younger ones who don't even know that there was a Second World War, an event so drastic and dramatic that it has shaped the destiny and future of each country of this world. But it's nobody's fault, that one person has to much remembrance and the other one does not even know about the same event. That is just the way it is now.
How for instance are the lives of the six million Jews that have been killed in the
gas chambers in Germany under the Third Reich Government of Adolf
Hitler remembered?
The World can remember them by looking at the memorials that the German
Government has left. Some of the concentration camps have been turned
into memorial sites and museum. On public places artwork has been
erected to remember the past serving at the same time as a warning not
to repeat what had happened.
Do we nee memorials? My very personal opinion is yes. Well, this is also a personal blog, allowing people to speak about their personal life. I think yes.
Now what about the shacks. They have been the face of South Africa, of black South Africa for decades.
Memorials are needed but they should be reality-orientated. Artwork is good but some things should be preserved, conserved and exhibited. Something of that reality "back then" should be left.
This is some sort of progressive, future talk.
How to remember when we come from this to this?
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| A beautiful house in N.U.7 |
But I can imagine, in a hundred and fifty years in the sparkling busy inner city of East London we can see a shack with a painted skull ( may be like the one in the first picture), exhibited under glass like a statue with a board in steel attached to it, engraved with the following words: This shack was once built in the section of N.U 5 in the then township Mdantsane, that was mainly a black settlement. It was inhabited by Mr.X and his wife. It reminds us of the conditions most of the black South Africans have lived in during the 21st century.
I just imagine.
2150 A young girl standing in front of the statue asks her mother: " Do you really think that someone ever lived in this. I can not imagine".
Her mother replies: " Yes, we have not seen it but your great great grandfather did remember it and he has told your father's father about it".
Have I lost you know at this point? Does not matter? The pictures are nice.
