Today (27 April) is Freedom Day here in South Africa, which for those that does not know, is the 13th birthday of when South Africa become a total free and democratic society. As a fairly old South African from the pre-1994 days, I must say that I was not sure what this would mean to me. Now 13 years on I know that the fears I had, came to nothing. We now have a society where white, black, coloured or whatever can compete on a equal footing with one another. Yes, we as old white male South Africans had to endure some difficulties but that just meant that we had to look at things from a different perspective and use different opportunities that came our way.
I am sure that if we in South Africa did not change all that years ago, we would have been much worse off. I for one am a much more rounded person and has been exposed to so many other cultures and experiences which did enrich my life.
Things are not perfect but that just means that we must work harder at it. Be more tolerable and accept that there are other views, cultures and opinions than your own.
To my fellow South Africans, celebrate this day and embrace the wonderful future that we as South African can have. Have a wonderful celebratory day and long weekend. And to top it off we can celebrate the day further with the 27dinner tonight here in Cape Town.
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