Fight against crass mediocrity

WE HAVE steadily become an ungracious country – I’m loath to say nation, as we continue to kick and scratch against the need to coalesce as a nation even when things have been good.

We have generally become quite self-absorbed, with little consideration for those we feel we can simply exclude, including family and friends. Under the terrible and terrifying conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic and the infodemic of social media that we have often uncritically relied on, the best and the worst in us, have come to the fore.

As we mark Human Rights Day, we need to pause during our holiday to acknowledge those who paid the ultimate sacrifice – from colonialism to apartheid – in