Letter from the editor: Jeremy Cronin saw it coming – by Kristan Kraak

Motho ke motho ka batho babang. We are people because of other people.

If this pandemic has done anything other than messing up my sleeping schedule and making online schooling feel so optional when it’s really not, it has made me think about how we really need each other. I, for one, have never realized how much I loved having my grandfather over in the morning. Even if it means I only get to sleep 6 hours while my body aches for 14. Even if it means I’m woken up 6 days a week by my dogs’ excited squeal when they hear his whistle at the gate – Sundays are sacred for Oupa Nicky. It means I get to see my 10 year old dog leap like a puppy whenever I open the garage door for him. It means I get to see his eyes close more than mine as he smiles bright when Jessie lays on her side waiting for scratches. It means I get to hear “Toesie Loesie… ‘n bietjie water, man?”

For years, I’ve clung to the idea that I HAVE to go to university to be a success, I HAD to study to be someone, I HAD to be an architect, or a doctor or a lawyer or whatever I had my mind fixed on at the time, I HAD to fulfill my promise to my late grandfather that I’d be the first woman of the Kraak family to be a doctor. But that’s not my point: my point is that I believed one had to study to be a success. To not be like them. I take it all back. Even if no one knew my thoughts, I take it all back.

Because the truth is we need them. Because if it weren’t for them, who would fill our car with petrol whenever we took random trips to Tulbagh or Aurora or Goedverwacht just for the sake of it? If it weren’t for them, where would I buy a bread at 8 in the morning because I absolutely just don’t feel like defrosting and baking a veggie schnitzel – man raak honger – if Willy’s General Store weren’t just 2 houses from me? If it weren’t for them, who would save me from the bags and bags and bags of vegetable peels and tea bags and dog – ehh.. piling up in the bins? If it weren’t for them, who would ask my mom (droopy-eyed), “Smart Shopper card?” Who would my mom phone because the Wi-Fi is lagging and I’m swearing out loud (die hele agterpad dink seker “Wie se kind vloek so?”) because Mrs Schoonraad’s Zoom lesson keeps buffering?

They might not have doctorate degrees or the highest paying job, but we need them just as much as they need us to pay and ultimately provide for their family. We need each other more than we’d ever admit and more than we’ll ever give each other credit for. That counts for family and friends too – friends’ pets too.

That’s just the point: we need each other more than words could ever say. It’s important that you understand that I’m not attacking the parents who tell their child “Daai’s wat jy gaan doen as jy nie leer nie” (if the shoe fits, though ). But when this is all over, it’s important that we acknowledge that it wasn’t the CEO’s and multi-millionare businessmen and –women and engineers who saved us. It was the spazas and the retail workers and security personnel and nurses who risked it all so we could still have it all. Maybe, just maybe, the Facebook comedians too, for keeping us sane. Shoutout to the “nagskof memers”.

Reevaluate the word essential.

Wash your hands and stay at home. McDonald’s sal nie weghardloop nie.