Selfish, Yes.

As I look out of this incredibly tiny window on this impressively cramped aeroplane (or is it airplane?), en route to Lanserisa, I am overwhelmed by the sheer number of people on the ground in Cape Town. All those thousands upon thousands of roofs, of cars, buses and streets. Gaining height as quickly as one does in a plane provides a surreal perspective on how vast the human spread is.

And what did I glean from this feeling of being overwhelmed? If there are so many of us; then surely there is enough energy, brain power, goodwill – and all that fuzzy stuff – to make things better down there on the ground? Cliché? So fucking what?

Then I let my brain wonder, which is not difficult to allow. And you know what I thought? What if I could get each one of those people on the ground to want to read my blog, to see my show, to pay me R5 – I’d be rich. Precisely! I just answered my own question... people are too damn selfish to stay with the thought of another for more than three minutes! Our energy is all about ourselves, our brain wants to be an “I” specialist. And goodwill, well that would be good if I can score from it. So the fuzzy stuff seems to be a dream...

Icky, isn’t it?

But, why then do we every now and again have these realisations, these ‘fuzzy’ thoughts, even if only at random moments – like taking off in an aeroplane? We, as humans, do have moments when we aren’t selfish and we think, ‘Gee, what can I do to make this place better?’ I think that it is because we do, essentially, want to do good, to make things right. However, it isn’t easy to be selfless and as humans are essentially lazy, we quickly go back to thinking about ourselves, because it’s so easy. Maybe it is because, just like any really challenging thing, there is effort involved. We procrastinate, and what better way than to spend time satisfying your personal needs, after all, they’re obvious.

And here is the next cliché: we should make the effort! The world needs to be less lazy. We need to try have the realisations more often; and then realise the realisation. Do something! Actually act on the fuzzy stuff.

So, when I get off this plane I am going to...  I hope that there is a coffee shop close to the exit to the airport, I am dying for a latte.

Sigh.