Big Picture People
A friend of mine recently told me that she’s decided to work for the government. She is a person I admire who has worked in the development field with nongovernmental organisations all over the world for several years. Naturally I laughed, and pointed out that faced with such a large bureaucracy her grand ideas would waste away. The system would beat her I said, and eventually she’d spend the whole day reading the newspapers and all the while she’d make less money in a month than she currently spent in a weekend. Undaunted by my cynicism, she remained optimistic. ‘How can you change government’, she asked, ‘if you don’t try?’
Both of my parents have spent their entire working careers as civil servants. They both have a background in the human sciences with multiple degrees, and undoubtedly would have found more lucrative careers outside the government. I have listened in on their long conversations about sexism, being passed over for promotions and corruption. I have seen how little they are remunerated for the great amount of time and energy they put into their work. My mother even calls her job community service; while my father is motivated by investing in the dream he watched so many die for. But even with all the frustrations, and sometimes thanklessness that comes with what they do and where they work, the one thing that has never changed is their faith in the dream that is Zimbabwe.
The trouble with your generation’, my father often says to me, ‘is that you aren’t willing to make sacrifices for anything.’ Considering my reaction to my friend’s news, I can’t say I disagree. Like so many Zimbabweans I’m quick to point out what is wrong with our government, and country, and even quicker to take sides in the ZANU-PF / MDC tug of war. Often it is without trying to understand why things are the way they are, or why the other side has picked the position it has picked. For us there is no middle ground, just good guys and bad guys, haves and have-nots. And because we are pulled in different directions we don’t create change or progress in our development, we only create divisions. Unlike, big picture people, like my parents and my friend, we have become caught up in the smaller details such as petty party politics and power struggles. Zimbabwe is a dream we all have to work towards, one life, one bad piece of legislation or bureaucratic process at a time. Just imagine if everyone went to work, not wanting self-aggrandisement, power and money, but instead worked to be the change they wanted to see. Imagine what kind of Zimbabwe that would be.