Let us consider others when we step out of the dark

If the lights of a house are out someone is probably home – it’s just stage 4 load shedding and another day in paradise.

South Africans are in the dark about many things, including common courtesy and letting the sun shine on one another.

We are in the dark about when load shedding will be escalated, or how much the next petrol price increase will be.

Frankly, we are in the dark about the future. There is no light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps being in the dark has left us divided.

Every week it is another narrative and another problem – from petrol prices to the KZN floods and the country declared a state of disaster.

Conspiracy theorists on social media have again predicted the floods and other disasters recently are a sign of the end of times.

Looking back, I saw how many times the world has ended in the past few decades, from entering the millennium and each and every significant date or palindrome.

It is hard to see in the dark, whether it is looking at a palindrome or looking at our differences. Initially, I thought the race was the biggest division in South Africa.

But there was an even bigger division in our country: the division of opinion.

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Recently, prominent Afrikaans singer Steve Hofmeyr made headlines when he gave his unenlightened opinion of Disney’s decision to include more LGBTQ+ characters in its future stories.

He was in the dark about how Disney would implement this decision and failed to see the bigger picture.

This was supposed to be a breakthrough for the LGBTQ+ community but, instead, turned into a messy mud-throwing fight between oldschool Christians, the farming community supporting the singer and the LGBTQ+ community.

This was division at its best. The LGBTQ+ community threatened to boycott the Pampoen hit singer due to his tunnel vision and views, while the church aunties slapped back with Bible verses and gay curses.

Author Erin Hunter once said power was neither good, nor evil but rather the user that makes it so. With great power comes great responsibility, not only to keep the lights on in the case of Eskom, but also for Hofmeyr fans blindly followinng his opinion to the far-right, or wrong side of the line.

The same goes for power. Eskom was expecting citizens to carry the burden of consequences of decades of bad management and misuse of power, leaving the man on the street powerless and in the dark.

Every day the cloud of darkness and despair over the country was getting 50 shades darker with a total blackout looming and unenlightened leaders brainwashing blind followers in a dark ditch of debt.

There is an alternative to the dark and it isn’t solar energy. The light at the end of the tunnel is free for all – especially for those who don’t want to stay in the dark.

When you get out of the dark house and look at the sun you may notice the rainbow nation consisted of much more than just black and white, but rather everyone – from the average Joe to the LGBTQ+ community of any gender and preference, with each individual’s right to exist. It is simple.

There is enough space for everyone in the sun.

When you step out of the dark, consider each other and don’t respond to opinions – especially the unenlightened opinions of the dark houses.