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There are a few words that I have tried to stop using as frequently as I have been. "Unprecedented" sits at the top of the list. Because the reality is that we are forging forward in uncharted seas, writes Howard Feldman.
April Fool's Day is just not what it used to be.
In the past (last year), we would scour the news to determine that article that was not truthful, and I would spend the day trying to avoid becoming too invested in a story that would turn out to be a gag.
I have been caught out badly in the past.
I remember when I was still at school, when The Star newspaper printed an elaborate article about the new Johannesburg Underground metro.
Along with maps and everything.
Whereas my parents were very concerned that the anticipated route ran right through their favorite rose bushes, I was thrilled, and spent hours working out with friends, how we would finally have freedom that we had so longed for.
We were young and had no idea that even if it were to be true, we would most likely die of old age before the first hole would get dug.
This April Fool's Day, I would believe anything.
Tell me that Martians had landed in Pretoria and taken President Ramaphosa as a hostage back to Mars and I would likely answer, "Wow! Unprecedented!"
I might enquire about the mode of transport and even wonder why they didn’t take a couple of other politicians with him, but I would not doubt the authenticity of the story.
I would also most likely make no attempt to verify any of the facts, before shaking my head and moving back to Twitter where the latest cure for Covid-19 had just been suggested by a friend's aunt who once met a doctor who knew someone who had spoken to someone who thought they might be positive with the virus.
Such is the insanity of the current status.
This year April Fool's Day has been suspended because it’s no fun anymore.
We have become so used to reading the fantastical and the bizarre that nothing could even try to match what is real news.
Skeptical?
Consider the following: this week Eskom announced that they have excess capacity. The DA have been complimentary about the ANC’s handling of the Covid crises and the EFF has branded hand sanitiser.
It gets better: individuals have offered to give billions of rands to the government to use at its discretion, without having been asked to do so.
Had you asked me back in February, when we were still children, if any of this would be possible in the next few weeks - I would have requested that you share what you were drinking.
And now we can’t even buy alcohol.
There are a few words that I have tried to stop using as frequently as I have been.
"Unprecedented" sits at the top of the list.
Because the reality is that we are forging forward in uncharted seas.
There is little in recent history that can guide us, and there is little experience that any country has in dealing with a pandemic such as this one.
And yet one thing has become apparent to me.
Out of all the leaders in all the world, there is no other that I would want to lead us, other than the team assembled by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Top that April Fool's 2020!
- Howard Feldman is a keynote speaker and analyst. He is the author of three books and is the morning talk show host on ChaiFM.
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