You dont have to change.

Ola my people!

First and foremost, I’d like to apologize for being AWOL and also for the late post. In my defense, it’s test week and things are hectic. But I should have posted this earlier. I guess contrary to the title, I have to change and stop procrastinating.

We have different types of personalities, behaviors and attitudes. Amongst those, we have people who are down to earth. Those who are naturally sweet and opt to find the positive things about a person or a particular situation, no matter how bad things may be (optimistic).

Say for example, we have a girl who falls in love with a gangster (I’m an incurable romantic so that’s the first thing that came to my mind). All the people in the town/village they both live in tell her how bad of an idea it is to be dating this gangster. They remind her of the bad things he does. But she will continue to see him despite the negativity because she chooses to see the good part of him.

Sometimes when you are like that, you are often taken advantage of because people think you are ‘soft’ or ‘easy’. When this happens, most tend to change and become different, optimist to pessimist.

Message for the day is, “You do not have to change who you are but grow up and change the people surrounding you. Even if you see the good in them, it is not a good idea to constantly be with people who force you to change from who you naturally are. Instead, seek for someone who will appreciate you. Yes, we do have those people, you just have not found them yet.”

Next post will be tomorrow morning right after my test. Until then, feel free to comment, let me know what you think.

"Service Delivery Dependence" , Were Governments went wrong

Based on past experience with some readers, it was stated that with every flaw we as writers identify in society, we should provide a viable solution and here is one identifiable in almost every society in the world. Around the world governments provide a means  for their citizens to have a better life,  this has somehow caused a stir in thoughts from me(Julius) as i wonder, does social welfare/services etc. really help their recipients or is it a setback that just keeps the most economically vulnerable people in society in their state?

drrichswier.com

If you look at how much or the proportion they receive in social assistance, one wonders, how they even survive. for instance, in South Africa and Botswana, social welfare in the form of grants is around $100-$150 per month depending on the form of servicehttp://mg.co.za/article/2014-06-19-social-grants-beneficiaries-more-than-double-in-10-years. In reality this is enough money to feed one person
 for a month or less but do keep in mind that with regard to the kind of backgrounds people who receive social grants come from, this is to cover all the household costs and utilities like electricity.

So is government helping? Our home country (RSA) has one of the highest proportion of taxpayers to citizens. This means governments spends Billions annually on maintaining its citizens rather than helping them to help themselves. couple this with our record of the highest youth unemployment in the world and a national unemployment of 26% ,  you have the characteristics of a third world country (Not everyone likes that term this side).http://ewn.co.za/2016/05/09/SA-unemployment-rate-rises.

social.yourstory.com
My Proposal?
Instead of helping people with their daily struggles, governments from around the world should focus on enabling people to help themselves, this would be good for Developing nations since their governments have more on their plates to deal with compared to Western nations who in a way afford to provide for their citizens. This should be through provision of resources for those capable and willing to be economically & socially active in the country. Provision of incentives to those who have are already active and the promotion of social change in the country. This would mean government helps grow the economy and shrinks those dependent on it for financial support this group being the elderly, Disabled and Orphaned who make up less that 10% of the population.  Not that this has never been proposed to government or that government is ignorant, but imagine if more emphasis in every country was on such concepts. Really making human development and social change a priority.

For the hard workers.

Be driven by the self, let no external force invade you. As they try, grow to understand that being a rising star means having more than just one enemy.

photo credit  to- www.keepinspiring.me

LAZINESS OR LACK OF MOTIVATION?

I wanted to start off the week talking about something jolly and fun, something to get you in the mood like new music or an upcoming event but then I went through my pictures on Instagram. One of them had a caption that just triggered something on my mind. It was not a terrible caption really. What I said was,
“Back to school.”
One of my followers then commented, “No more sleeping late, hey.” Of which I responded, “Yeah, I am going to miss that.” 

The question I asked myself then was, “Are we really that lazy?”

I am saying ‘we’ because I know I am not the only one who feels this way. Often times we prefer not to work and just sleep, or chill and do nothing- and doing nothing is a very hard thing to do, because you never know when exactly you are finished with it. Had there been some sort of career where you actually got paid for sleeping, I am pretty sure that the majority of the youth would pile up there. Someone I know loves to say, “Being lazy is a habit. And a habit is hard to break.”

I do not think the problem is going to school. It is the work behind it, what we are going to do at school that just doesn’t sit right with us. Work.

Then again, I have heard of young people who actually live to work. Most of these students are from families who are not well off. Those who want to get out of the environment that they were brought up in. Some just want to learn because curiosity grows the more they acquire knowledge. Both of these are motivation.

And the rest of us? 

We do things because we are told to or because everyone else is doing it. We have come to a state of mind where we wait for people to come push us to do things, even something as stupid as cleaning after our own messes. We are so conditioned to this state of mind, something we always say we will do- we never do until someone reminds us that we have said we will do. We wait, like a black little girl in the dark afraid of a black cat that is not there. We want someone to come give us a push, like the old motor that have been passed down from generations, which carries memories. That kind of a motor that needs to be pushed only if the engine has been off- how typical of us youth, how typical of us that we still have the engine running and yet we need a push every time. Even this old skorokoro is way better than us, after the push- it goes, well, what about us? We have to be pushed and pushed and pushed and …  Is that then our motivation? Because if so, that is the worst possible reason we could ever have to do something. That state of comfort, how about that lonely road at least?

Had we all come from poor backgrounds, would we then all had the enthusiasm to learn? Only because we want to break the chains of being poor? Is it then being lazy or do we just have a lack of motivation?

I’d love to hear or see – in this case- what your thoughts are on this particular situation we seem to be facing. Enjoy the rest of your day.

The new writer

Hi. I’m Keaobaka Mooketsi. I am a first year IT student at NWU. I was born and bred in the North West, went to public schools, primary to high school where I eventually met my friend Batlhalifi. An inspiration, influence and blessing in my life. But less about him and more about me
 I am the new The Typical South African Youth co-writer. This introduction is a week late but that is because I have been gnawing my nails out of nervousness and excitement. I had no clue where I was going to begin. Heck, I still don’t know.

Most of the post here will be me ranting out about issues that affect us. I’m going to touch everything really. Politics, education, health, music and one thing that my co-writer does not seem to touch, love and relationships. No, it won’t be sappy, corny or cheesy. I am not a romantic. One other thing, my utmost favorite – I simply cannot leave this one out – I’ll post book reviews here and there for all my bookworms out there. And yes, I’ll even torture myself with non-fiction. What better way to gain knowledge and give it to others, right?

Everyone is different. We have things that interest each and every one of us. The main aim is to attract the youth from all provinces in South Africa and get them involved in what could be possibly everyday discussions of the world events. Luckily, I have the curiosity of a cat, perhaps more so I love knowing a lot about everything. That is my type of FOMO.

I am a writer too. I wouldn’t call it my passion yet. But I can at least structure a few sentences together and make something interesting? Anyway, feedback is always accepted in the comments and I will post something new in a short while. Until then, have fun.

The writer.

I will be uploading a post everyday from today. These will range from politics to book reviews as I am a veracious reader. I hope my inconsistency in the past does not affect my readers this time as I promise to bring only the best in information and news that affect each and everyone of us. I have a co-writer who will soon introduce herself. We will be working together to bring you the best as a reader.

Credit to Deviantart.com
"lost-in-thought"