2019 in South Africa has not been an easy year for most – again. It has written its own music with jarring refrains and heady harmonies. Running like a flooded river in a storm, it proved to be a torrent, throwing itself left and right, up and down and then, at the most unexpected times,…
Let him wallow, just for a bit
Author: AM Scott Unashamedly, the Springbok rugby team, so capably led by Siya Kolisi last Saturday, 2 November 2019, have been hoisted high in our talk, our social media feeds, our newspapers and indeed our proudly South African hearts. We like a win. Even more so, we love a decisive victory, where we have ‘slaughtered…
Tie yourself to the mast and hang on
Author: AM Scott Greek mythology has it that Odysseus was terrified of the beautiful island creatures called “sirens” that beckoned sailors on passing ships to their death with their irresistible songs. So he ordered his men to stuff their ears with wax and bind him to the ship’s mast. He commanded his sailors not to…
Give them the keys, why don’t you?
Author AM Scott “A very little key opens a very heavy door.” – Charles Dickens Key {noun} : a piece of metal cut into a specific shape and used for opening or closing a lock. Keys open things up. Keys access ideas, places and spaces. Keys keep belongings safe. Keys start an engine. Keys are…
Lessons from London
Author: AM Scott The bright, red bus lurched and lumbered as it wended its way down the windy, narrow streets of London. Tired passengers, some carrying heavy bags or pushing tetchy toddlers, bumbled on board, swiping their Oyster cards motorically. No greetings. No smiles. Life, it seemed, was not an opportunity for connection with others….
Yesterday is heavy, put it down
Author: A M Scott There is a lesser told tale about a sage and his ‘padawan’ who journeyed together to a distant retreat, somewhere outside of Knysna, the one learning from the other as they went. They walked much, spoke little, and updated their social media feed often, like mindful sages and bloggers do. A…
Schools aren’t about sugar, saccharine and salesmanship; schools are about reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic
Author: A M Scott How many parents are caught in the whirlwind of ‘bang for your buck’ education, signing their children up to environments that (over)promise a complete ‘solution’ to their child’s spiritual, emotional, academic and physical development? The market is ripe and it doesn’t take much to whet a parent’s appetite for the bells…
Put down the manual and pick up the baby
Author: A M Scott Have you ever sat and scoffed on a plate of cheesy nachos or nibbled on a chocolate cookie while reading up the ‘allowed and not allowed’ list on your new diet plan, so as to start tomorrow? Do you read self-help or life coaching articles avidly and to what extent do…
Sitting on a cactus
Sitting on a cactus Author: A M Scott Raising a child can be rosy but raising a child with learning difficulties can be like handling a cactus at times. A bouquet of roses offers a soft scent and bursts of colour. The blooms gently unfold as the flowers are watered, fed and sheltered. People spot…
Stop. Think.
Author: A M Scott Globalisation has its positive and negative effects. Technology has pros and cons. Nothing is black or white and everything is a shade of grey. Photographs are no longer hard evidence of a true event. What we knew yesterday we are not sure of today. What waits for us in the future…
Run your heart out. Just do it.
BAM! Your baby is born and, prepared as you thought you were, life as a parent is nothing like you had expected. You had a notion that your adventure would be something of a Park Run, but instead it’s the Comrades at best and a trail run most of the time. All the pastel blue…
Punching holes in the darkness
Author: A M Scott In the 19th Century, an evening routine in a European city likely included the diligent lighting of lamps in the streets. Armed with ladders and torches, lamplighters would set about lighting lamps so that flames would burn into the night illuminating the path or passage, expelling darkness for the evening hours….