Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Good activists are always in shit!


Why do I always get myself in situations of my choosing that land me in shit? I have been asked that question my whole life. And honestly…it is because I am not afraid to stand up for what I believe in, nor can I turn my back on myself. It would break. 

From a very early age, my father told me that I must have the courage of my convictions and I suppose that has been bred in me and now forms part of my personality or character. I can’t change who I am and I have no desire to change either, because I like who I am today. It has taken a lot of work and a lot of tears to get here, but here I am … landing in the shit again. 

Fear of being labelled, fear of not being accepted, fear of being alienated, fear of retribution … it is fear that stops us from standing up for something. If we can’t stand up for something then we stand up for nothing! It takes courage to stand up for what you believe to be right in the face of strong and emotionally charged hostility. 

Eugene de Kock is not fashionable and not popular. Nelson Mandela is fashionable and popular. If you say anything to brighten the star of Nelson Mandela, you are 99% assured that you will be liked, you will be listened to and you will be accepted. But say something negative about Nelson Mandela and you will become the most unpopular and reviled person. If we replace Nelson Mandela’s name with Eugene de Kock’s name in the above statements, you will be 99% assured that you will be reviled, ostracised, disliked and will become the target for much abuse. 

So, since I have stated that having an opinion is better than having no opinion, I have to add that having an uninformed opinion is worse than not having an opinion at all. Uninformed opinions are the same as rumours. Rumours contain lies and half-truths. Rumours and uninformed opinions fall into the same category. Both activities hurt others. 

We are all of the same race … the human race. We are all connected by many ties, not least of which is that we all breath the same air, live on the same planet and all have the same biological make-up. Just a short little trip into the field of quantum physics and you will be convinced of our human connectedness. And I have learned is that you can’t hurt another without hurting yourself, just as you cannot help another without helping yourself. I prefer to help than to hurt. 

As long as I know that someone out there is in a worse situation to me, I will feel compelled to do something about it. My mission is to continue to speak for those who are unable or cannot, for whatever reason, speak for themselves, as I have done for many years for the neglected children of South Africa. 

While I find myself in the firing line with my opinion on Eugene, I am honoured and blessed to be connecting with some extraordinary human beings. These people have depth of character, have integrity, are wise and filled with compassion and courage. These are my kind of people and I choose to associate with them. If you mix with dogs, you pick up fleas so I guess I am fortunate not to be sitting on the side of those who have uninformed opinions of Eugene. 

Every time I climb onto a plane to fly somewhere, I look around me to see if these are the kinds of people I want to die with. Only once did I sit next to a nun who was saying the Rosary, while she moved her beads through her fingers, and I thought … it will be OK if this plane goes down today because she is sure to get into Heaven! So I am happy to be associated with the name of Eugene de Kock and his supporters on FaceBook : FREE EUGENE DE KOCK.   


To those who want to verbally abuse me, I say “Bring it on”! The more you perform the more people will start remembering Eugene de Kock. 

And … to those who think he should be forgotten and “the key thrown away”… this is for you…an invitation to join us on FaceBook and see what we really stand for. 

Thank you to all those who are supporting Eugene. Obstacles are what we will see if we take our eyes of the goal. No obstacle is insurmountable. 

Would you sign our petition please?   Click on the link.

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