By Kabelo Mollo
I used to be the life and soul of the party. I really did. I was what one friend described as a “good time guy”. I knew all the latest titles, I knew the lyrics, and had ad libs readily available. Even my six foot plus frame could do the latest dance moves.
I was in the prime of my youth and I was making the absolute most of it! The best part of it all was that it didn’t seem like it would ever end. Even when the wise heads would warn that we’d run out of steam one day, it didn’t seem possible.
As I got through my late twenties and begun my early thirties I began to worry that I would one day be one of those old timers wearing a silk shirt with only the two bottom buttons of their shirt done up in a nightclub offering girls young enough to be my daughter’s age, champagne and dreams. I was worried in a sense that I would miss check out time. It concerned me that I’d be so blinded by the lights that I’d never want to call it quits on that part of my life.
One of the best quotes I’ve ever heard is “it’s better to leave the party at quarter to, than quarter past”. I’m fortunate that I’ve got to my big age, and left the scene. Just in time too. The kind of partying the young people are doing now is ludicrous. The whistles, and the bottle of booze on their heads, and piano sound, it’s all a bit much thank you. I saw my watch head go quarter to and something inside me told me to bow out with a modicum of dignity still in tow.
It strikes me, therefore, that so few African leaders have heard or interacted with that quote. So many of our esteemed leaders have stayed at the party long after quarter past. They are that old guy at the nightclub that I so dearly feared becoming. They’re wearing the silk name brand shirts buying girls who look at them funny drinks.
The people around them are too busy serving their own interests and desires to tell them it’s past time to get home. The leaders know they’re old, and to belabour the metaphor, they are at the nightclub unable to see the time because they don’t have their bifocals. They are uncomfortable because rather than being sat on the couch in a gown and slippers, they are wearing narrow loafers, and silk name brand shirts.
I’m not an ageist, and I’m not one of those who believe our elder statesmen ought to be loaded in to a van and put to pasture so that the youth can take over. I believe every segment of society can coexist, and I believe we all ought to feed off each other’s strengths and make up for our weaknesses. There is a popular coffee shop in the heart of Maseru where many a great idea has been shared. I’ve heard of this coffee shop and its regulars being spoken of pejoratively.
Of course it’ll be by those who don’t spend much time there, so quite how they can comment on something they aren’t part of, I don’t know, but anyhow, this coffee shop offers one of the better platforms for interaction between generations. Sometimes the veterans will school the more youthful guys on years gone by, while other occasions will have the younger guys explaining the nuance of an ongoing situation.
The important thing about these interactions is that the old folks considered regulars are pensioners, who go to the coffee shop to get out of the house and get some fresh air. They aren’t clinging to office jobs they no longer have the energy to do.
Our older generations should be guiding us in a consultative role now. They should be trying to ensure we don’t repeat the errors they and their peers made. They should be learning from our generation how to live in an increasingly digital world. Instead of that give and take, we have veterans and those who surround them doing their best to insulate themselves in cocoons of power while youth stand outside shouting blue murder. The chasm gets wider, rather than narrower.
I don’t know an awful lot about New Zealand but I wish we had a leader like Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. She’s female, she’s born in 1981, and perhaps least importantly she’s liberal. She has regular virtual hang outs on social media because being young and in touch with technology she sees the value of that kind of interaction. I have no doubt she has her detractors, but in the two biggest
