I Have A Dream Today

If I were to channel Martin Luther King, this is what I'd say today:

I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in human benevolence

I have a dream that we will live in a world where rights will be subordinate to duties, where the disempowered become empowered and where victims will become victors.

I have a dream that one day humanity will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed … to protect its brother and sister, to revere its mother and father and to set up every cousin, one and all, to succeed and fulfil their God-given destiny.

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all humans are created equal and deserve their shot at navigating this experience elegantly, eloquently; and with courtesy.

I have a dream that one day out in the hills and valleys of Sandhurst the sons and daughters of Mandela, Mbeki, Kathrada and Sisulu and the sons and daughters of Hertzog, Van Riebeeck Verwoerd, Vorster, Botha and the ghost of Rhodes, will be able to sit down together at the table of humanity.

I have a dream that one day even our politicians, sweltering with the oppressive heat of hubris, with the stink of corruption and the evil of ego will be transformed into an oasis of benevolent human spirit.

I have a dream that their hearts will be turned from what they can cannibalise to what they can contribute.

I have a dream that we will no longer trough on the misery of the masses, that we will turn our gluttony into grace and turn from expectancy and embrace gratitude.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they don’t have to celebrate human rights because these rights will be unassailable and as natural as breathing. I have a dream that they will not be judged for what they get from this dear land, our South Africa, but for what they can contribute to it.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in South Africa, with its vicious racists; cronies, corpulent with corruption; with its leaders, their lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; that one day little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day our citizenry won’t need handouts and can smash their begging bowls and step across the broken pieces into a paradise where they will go from feeling useless to useful, disempowered to empowered, insecure to secure and from victimhood to victory.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be engulfed, every hill shall be exalted and every mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plains and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

Jacques de Villiers - Helping you navigate this human experience with elegance, eloquence, and courtesy.