The short and sweet of things – Big Corn Bites or Equal rights?

A joke that always stuck with me is the one where a group of protestors are screaming: “We want Equal rights!” The group in the middle screaming: “We want electric lights!” And the group at the back that can’t hear the front group shouts: “We want Big Corn Bites!”

My English teacher told us the joke when I was still in school. We were busy reading the short story, The Voter, by Chinua Achebe.  Since then I think about that story every time we are near a stage where we have to vote.  That day I learned a valuable lesson… I learned that in life there will be people that will lead us in certain directions, but it is up to me to be informed about where our leaders are taking us or what they stand for. I don’t want to be like that group at the back that is shouting for something, just because it sounds like the people in the front are asking for it. Better yet, why can’t we all be leaders in our own right?

Do you also get the idea that we have a lot of angry people out there who scream and shout and protest… as if that would make it better, as if that would change the situation. Why are we so angry? Is it because we don’t see change… Okay, so what are you to doing change it?

I hear that round about 9 million South Africans who are eligible to vote, are not registered to vote. Now I ask you, why do we see the tool for change in front of our eyes and we don’t use it? Then you get people that say: “Ag … It doesn’t help anyway”. My response… “Don’t you even dare complain about poverty, crime, inflation, unemployment or anything else if you don’t register to vote!”

You see my fellow South Africans, it is actually quite simple. In life you will only get somewhere if you put yourself out there… If you stand up for your rights and you my dear friend have the right to vote. Yeah, you can be angry if you want to, but I’d rather use my right to vote than my right to freedom of speech. You see… with my right to vote… I enable other things in my life to also be free… not just my speech… My kids will be free to go to school… My family will be free to work for what they want in life and I will be free to grow and not be constrained by only words. ‘Cause words are nothing if not followed by actions.

The 5^th and 6^th of March is the first of two weekends where you can register to vote. Take action and go register. Then only will you truly have the right to talk about change, because although Big Corn Bites are very nice… I would rather shout out for equal rights.