Survival 2008

The Thought Leader editorial team invited me (all the contributors, but I like to say “me” because it makes me feel all commissioned and all that) to write on the year ahead’s predictions or to review the past year, all related to my area of expertise. I think we can all agree that The Sumo’s area of expertise, besides food, is the human condition only. I’m an expert on life and this is my only qualification. Therefore I shall indulge the Thought Leader editorial team and my readers and new readers with my commentary, utterly misplaced and based on no fact at all, on the human condition. Bear with me. Here goes:

The human condition begs for improvement. The soul demands it and always strives for better and more of whatever it holds dear. This is, of course, based on the human or any life form’s desire to survive — for as long as it can. It is the desire for self-preservation. Although we never put much thought to it, survival is at the very core of our drivers for any of the activities in which we may engage ourselves during our short stay on this planet; during this transition from birth to death that is called life and living … The Sumo, however, prefers to call it survival.

During survival we age, a year at a time, a full revolution around the sun each time, but we are merely revolving and not evolving in our current lives; that is, if we are not too engrossed in this whole survival business we call life even to notice any changes or lack thereof. So another year has passed, a year at the beginning of which we had promised ourselves a few key things that we would do for ourselves in order to extend our stay on this lavish planet for as long as possible and as comfortably as we possibly could make it.

What I believe is at the human condition’s core is the following: to live as long as possible, as comfortably and lavishly as possible, with the least effort being put in by the said human. No matter what anyone may say, this is the ideal we all hold dear. Activity and active survival are two very different things that should not be confused. Activities that bring you pleasure such as hiking and scuba diving are all pleasurable and part of the lavish lifestyle, but activity that is necessary for survival we would rather do without if we possibly could. That is the difference between the two forms of action.

The above, I believe, is the core of each and every individual’s existence: to survive lavishly for eternity. However, survival tends to put a few huge spanners in the works in our pursuit of what we believe is our ideal — that which brings us happiness — and rightly so, we believe these to be such basic demands for our stay here on the planet that supports survival. What our souls do not consider are the billions of other souls that have exactly the same end goals and aims about survival who are willing to do whatever it takes to maintain their right to the same life that we desire. This introduces into the equation “competition”, which by its very nature is based on conflict, and conflict breeds contempt that will ultimately result in retaliation.

So, in the pursuit of our own personal happiness, to which we all feel completely entitled, we have to compete with others who feel just as much entitlement to the same happiness, but which may hold belief systems that are contrary to our ideals. It doesn’t end with the individual either. The old saying “birds of a feather …” (and all that): groups are formed by individuals who share the same beliefs and who have the same goals. These individuals will work together to attain their goals and desires and to maintain their way of life. A group belief system and shared ideals in the pursuit of shared happiness gives the group and those who form its membership an identity.

How the above manifests itself in humans is in the formation of tribes, countries (defined by man-drawn borders) and in political allegiance within those borders, but at the core of it all is the desire for personal, comfortable, long-lived and happy survival that drives each individual within that group. Survival is a basic animal instinct and we as humans react as animals when confronted with a force we see to be a threat to our comfort zone and our survival; a threat to what we call our way of life or our desires to foster a new way of life that we perceive to the best solution for all, but mostly and most importantly for us and those who may look or think like us.

It is with the above deeply entrenched in our subconscious that we begin each year. We begin each year with a look back at the past year and the things we said we would do in order for us to survive and have longevity; the goals we set to preserve our way of life and the achievements we needed to make in order to reach those goals and achieve success in our lives. We assess the past and reset our goals for the future based on previous experience and what we still have to achieve. In the age that we live, the notion of self cascades down from country to political association/affiliation to the tribe before it reaches down to our self and our true identity, but we need the tiers above the self in order to protect and preserve the self from external forces that we perceive to be threatening — those which could harm our way of life.

Though you will probably find that the order of importance that we hold for each level of that structure is in fact ascending, we hold one’s self most important and will guard “one” fiercely and hold “one” most dear, and then we cascade that up to one’s tribe, and then we take that up to our political association and affiliation, and ultimately we identify ourselves as citizens of a country and, in Africa’s exceptional case and to a lesser extent, citizens of a continent. But in all these cases we will protect “one” the most; this is human nature — self-preservation. And if one is threatened even by those others that form the tiers above one in any setting, one will fight to the death to make sure that it is “one”, not them, that is left standing.

So what does the above mean for a country that is a new democracy, a country that has 11 official languages and a large number of different tribes, colonisers from different parts of the world and even the bloodlines of former slave traders as part of the colourful population that forms the political landscape of this yet-to-be-great nation? Well, we can only guess at this stage but I’m sure it shall once again be a very interesting time to be South African in this year of (our) lord 2008.

I foresee conflict within our political structures and individual parties; I foresee more criminal charges and more politicians being exposed for a range of activities that are contrary to the law and Constitution of the country. I foresee a back-and-forth between the two major wells of power with political casualties on both sides. I see it getting messy, but I do not foresee or forehear a gunshot being fired from any to another in the dark of the night that would be — some would argue — probably precedented, too extreme and would serve no purpose in anyone’s survival endeavours.

I see a bleak year for some political figures who some may perceive as being positive role players because of the political spin-doctoring that shall be fed to the public to gain their support for the actions to be taken by some of the comrades in political arms against others, and these actions can be spun in a positive light using the powerful force of the media and general sensationalism while furthering the course of one’s self or one tribe or one political party. But I foresee a year in which survival and political survival will be the major driver in our political landscape.

People have already been shaken and stirred into action by the perceived or real threat to their way of life and their survival as individuals, tribes and political affiliates. I see this trend persisting until not an explosive breaking point is reached, but rather a compromise that will be agreed to behind closed doors and executed through the political structures.

I see such action being taken as a result of unrest and distrust shown by the masses who are the real decision-makers in our politics, which will threaten to collapse the ever-improving outlook of our country. I foresee the beginning of the rise of a new political royalty in 2008, which will take the country in a slightly different, though still forward, motion. Empires rise and fall, and I believe 2008 is the year that a new empire will begin to rear its head — a political empire that is deeply rooted in its people’s needs and, sometimes and quite unfortunately, their whims.

This is the year in which the survival of certain wells of power will be determined. They have all been shaken into action and plans are already afoot to ascertain and retain or gain power. New orders shall be sent out to put these plans into action and we should see some very interesting developments in our political soap opera. Isidingo has nothing on our politics!

But as it was last year, all the activity will be happening behind closed doors, around fancy boardroom tables by people seated on leather seats and eating expensive food and sipping on some good whiskey and sucking on imported cigars while the poor will remain poor, still getting flooded in the informal settlements, still without proper housing and sanitation, still suffering. I foresee nothing being done in this regard, not until survival of the power bases has been decided and assured.

Those who lead this country or aim to lead this country, who may live in mansions and have kids in private schools, as can be imagined, are concerned with a whole different set of issues that threaten their survival than those who live in informal settlements with kids they cannot afford to send to school or feed or clothe. The only similarity between the two groups goes back to the very core of the human animal — to survive, at any cost and at the expense of anyone for as long as possible and a comfortably as possible.

That is the year I see ahead.

I rest
The Sumo