Rian Malan is brilliant and bold for writing such a moving, real book on the apartheid in South Africa. It is gripping and each cruel story keeps me reading. Just finishing the book, I was especially touched by the following passage:
"I realized that love, even if it ends in defeat, gives you a kind of honor; but without love, you have no honor at all. I think that is what I had misunderstood all my life. Love is to enable you to transcend defeat" (344).
Every man on Earth wants to be remembered, want to leave a legacy behind. It is not the ultimate goal, but most strive to leave their mark on the world with something memorable, unique. No one wants to be "Gone and Forgotten" like Andries Hendricks in the book. We want to be remembered by our good deeds. To leave the world with a bad impression is sad and a shame because many people heave the tendency to focus on the bad rather than the good. And for this sole reason, people have been raised to love. We learned to love our neighbor, love our community, love the world, and even love your enemy. We find that love can create passions through experience. Love is something so powerful, and many fail to appreciate the magnitude love instills. We try to love the differences among us, and some fail to do so. In God's eyes, we are perfect. So love one another.
Love in South Africa isn't so easy. During the apartheid, love seemed unreasonable and difficult. How could you love your neighbor? Love you community? Love your enemy? Love yourself? How could I love my neighbor if he didn't love me back? How could i love another of a different race? How could I love one that my ancestors despised, hated? How can i love such a community with immense amounts of fear? How could i love my enemy if he is trying to kill me, my family, and friends? How could I love myself for not trying to make things better? How can i love myself when i kill? When i hate someone solely for his/her differences? how can i love myself if i hate my morals? If I am part of an inevitable past? How can i love when i live in such a country ruled by fear and hate?
South Africans are held back and feel as if they cannot love. This is tragic, saddening, disappointing, and frustrating. Love seems like such an easy thing, but when you are put in such and environment where it isn't as welcomed, it's not so easy anymore. You walk the streets in fear, with your head down. How can you possibly love? And how can you possibly love someone you have been raised to hate? How can you love such a divided country? Every South African has every reason to hate, to fear, to not love. . . or so it seems. But love is exactly what they need. Creina and Neil Alock loved. Their love was so powerful that they were known to be the first white South Africans to "come home to stay" (349). People need to learn from them and use this love, for it is powerful. Love will better the situation, will "transcend defeat."
