Most people are brought up within a certain value system – they are socialised to understand what is considered right or wrong, what is acceptable and unacceptable, what is desired behaviour and what is taboo.
Local Drummer with Thembe Khumalo
At some point it is understandable that one would begin to question the basis on which these values are arrived at, and challenge what has been taught. Suddenly a teenage girl starts to wonder, “Why are long skirts better than short ones? Why is it wrong to kiss a boy if I like him? Why should I take these subjects at school if I don’t like them?”
It is this perpetual disputing of what has always been taken as fact which makes the adolescent years torrid ones for many parents. Often they grit their teeth and stumble through those years, hoping and praying that the stage will pass quickly and that on the other side of all this questioning will emerge a decent adult, who can conduct themselves with a reasonable amount of honour and decorum.
So far, so good.
But what happens when this well-calibrated adult decides at a later point in life that he or she is actually not satisfied with the responses he has received to life’s burning questions? What if he decided that the issues which were said to be non-negotiables must in fact now be negotiated?
I can imagine you shaking your head in dismay as you read this; thinking, “Yah, munhu iyeye anenge arasika zveshuwa . . .” and assuming this train of thought would be heralding a midlife crisis. But just think for a minute about some of the greatest minds in history. For us to see the results of the brainwork, the mental capacity would have to be accompanied by a streak of stubbornness to rival a donkey on the Plumtree road.
Think for a moment about Nelson Mandela, of whom you may by now be thinking you have really had your fill of stories. But just humour me for a minute and consider how he ran away from home as a young adult, told some half truths on his way along the walk to freedom, but above all, exhibited the type of strength of character that comes from being very clear about what you believe. He wasn’t always so clear, and at some point he needed to challenge the ideas that he had grown up with in order to develop his own set of values, which would then guide him through life.
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The pages of history are bursting with examples of people who decided that everything they knew and had been taught about the world needed to be unpacked, re-examined, and reabsorbed in a format that satisfied the individuals curiosity and quest for knowledge. If it didn’t, then it was time to re-write the story and tell some new truths.
I do not doubt that there were many who thought the Wright brothers were more than a little cuckoo when they insisted that aircraft could be controlled and balanced. It was the resolute defiance of conventional thinking which enabled them to keep trying , perfecting their craft through hours spent on their bicycles and other mechanical objects.
The enormity of courage that it takes to go public with a new and (usually) radical belief system cannot be underestimated. The world is never harsher than when the status quo is challenged by a mafikizolo, especially when he has no credentials other than his own belief in how right he is. Beyond ridicule and shame, the thought leader may even face death as a punishment for propelling unconventional ideas, as happened to Galileo, who was accused of heresy and spent his last years under house arrest for propelling his notions about the earth being round and not flat.
Booker T Washington, a freed slave was a proponent of long term educational and economic advancement. No doubt there were those who preferred to use force to grasp the rights being denied to black people, but his approach led to a much quieter, more insidious revolution which is changing the world even now.
Renegotiating the non-negotiables is not the calling of everyone. But if you know someone who has tendencies towards this type of thinking, you may want to offer them your support rather than derision. For all you know, you may be talking to the world’s next Leonardo da Vinci!
