I-HAVE-ARRIVED-SYNDROME - WHAT A CURSE

I-HAVE-ARRIVED-SYNDROME - WHAT A CURSE

I coined a phrase sometime ago, ‘I-have-arrived-syndrome’ (or at least I think I did); tragically, this has and will continue to shortchange this beautiful country of ours beaming such exuberant talent. This is a country that produced Brenda Fassie, Benni McCarthy, Ernie Els, Nelson Mandela, Charlize Theron to name but a few, and exciting talent such as the sensational Zahara continue to emerge from our shores.

But we are a country very low on self esteem, we think we are superior to other African countries yet we don’t put our money where our mouth is, music by our artists never tops international charts, our top national soccer team players subject themselves to the humiliation of trials in lower divisions abroad, our actors are nowhere near top Hollywood productions. It’s time to face the facts – we are no where near as good as we delude ourselves into thinking we are, or, we are very good but we are a country suffering from chronic complacency, like a flower that withers before it completely blooms, the full extent of our God-given talent is hardly ever realized because we get excited too soon and think we’ve made it at the first sight of the success glow.

Our soccer players think playing for Chiefs or Pirates is the pinnacle of success, our actors think a Generations contract is the ultimate. Tragic how low we’ve set the bar really. Our kwaito and hip hop stars fumble a chaotic unrehearsed performance during live performances and wonder why they are not given respect, no I’m not talking about groupies lining up to take off their panties, that’s not the respect I’m talking about. I’m talking about a breathtaking Lebo Mathosa live performance that makes you proud to be South African. But we tolerate mediocrity in South Africa, and the painful kind of mediocrity is that dished out by people who could do way better.

This arrogance that we have as South African is really baseless until we conquer the globe. Nigerians are arrogant and they can back it up, ever seen a Nigerian gardener in our suburbs? Never! A typical South African gets a gig at a regional radio station and starts believing they are the best thing since PVR. You get one supporting role in a drama series and the next thing you create a fanpage and forget to continue working hard on your craft, that’s low self esteem, never in your wildest dreams did you ever imagine you’ll ever be called a ‘star’ and when you never really dreamt about being a solid star with staying power. C’mon guys, catch a wake up! Maybe that’s what we get for creating ‘stars’ out of continuity announcers. We just don’t have a mentality of champions as a country, for Pete’s sake even a lousy domestic worker has a big head around here, what’s up with that nonsense! A domestic worker who is as easy to replace as a light-bulb walks around with a chip on her shoulder around here! This is empty arrogance gone bonkers, I tell ya!

University graduates who can’t spell even if their lives depended on it yet wonder why promotion is hard to come by.

Upstart tenderpreneurs who go on flashy cars shopping sprees way before they finish their first project! At this rate we are busy building a nation of wankers jumping from one fickle dream to another.

I hope Zahara achieves the greatness her first album promises; I hope we have a South African play for Barcelona or Real Madrid soon; I hope we create more genuine international stars; I hope we continue dreaming bigger even behind the steering wheel of a 320i BMW. I hope we rid ourselves of this ‘I-Have-Arrived’ syndrome and learn just how far humility can take one.

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