I woke up in the middle of the night with the rain bucketing down. Tired, grumpy, sorry for myself and unbelieving that we have only reached Wednesday.
So when I reached for my phone to see how many hours I had left to rest my weary bones, and the damn alarm went off in my hand, I nearly threw the thing against the wall.
“Why does winter have to be so cruel?” I mumbled to my husband as he coaxed the vile piece of technology from my clutching grip and put it out of reach.
“In fact, why does life have to be so cruel?” I continued rather melodramatically.
“You know that tomorrow is a public holiday right?”
Squeeeeeee! I had completely forgotten. Not because the 16th of June doesn’t hold significance for me, but rather because I never have the foggiest idea of the date.
“It is!” I crowed, practically skipping to the shower thinking of all the things I won’t be doing tomorrow such as getting up early, doing work, going to the shops etc.
But now that I’m sitting behind my desk I’m feeling a little guilty.
The Soweto school uprisings were such an important part of our history. And the way the government handled the situation has to be one of the most shameful chapters in our chequered past. The gunning down of children who stood up for the right to fair education focused the world’s attention on us. Ultimately these uprisings did a lot to finally bring Apartheid to its knees.
And yet, what will I do tomorrow? Will I watch the wildly depressing and painfully boring documentary that will no doubt be screened by the national broadcaster? Probably not. Will I spend all day in bed reading and drinking wine? Probably.
And that feels kind of... wrong. So I want you to help me with ideas. What will you be doing tomorrow? What do you tell your children about Youth Day? What can we do as a country to make sure these acts of bravery and defiance will never be forgotten?
Please folks, I need some input.