Pick a meme that matters

Aphorism: a pithy observation which contains a general truth.

There is no simple definition of the term "meme". But we are all used to image macro memes - a picture with some message. Usually, but not necessarily, witty.

We seem to have reached a stalemate with Covid. All those ideas we had about "after Covid"... well, this may be as close as we are going to get.

And so our routines of life and work carry on, with new deadlines and the occasional personal crisis. Anything new and exciting? Probably not - because we are more likely to notice the mundane and the unpleasant.

Our negativity bias

Humans are predisposed to a negative state of mind. It is easier to take the negative view of anything than the positive view.

This is the way the human brain evolved for survival. It's a good bias to have - in a world where you might be eaten by a sabre-toothed tiger. It's a bad bias to have in the modern world.

(If you want to know why, watch my favourite Ted talk by Shawn Achor: The happy secret to better work.)

A long-awaited success

If you've been reading my emails for a while, you may remember my occasional rants about the Office of the President.

I have tried since 2018 to get an ID document for my gardener: a man who was born in South Africa, but never registered at birth. This included trips to the Department of Home Affairs, phone calls, more documents, and emails. And then a complaint to the Office of the President, and weekly phone calls to follow that up for months.

After almost 4 years, I am happy to announce that Bernard now has an ID card. To celebrate, I bought him a huge red velvet cream cake.

So many memes, so little time

We choose how we look at the world - I wrote about this in I'll take the purple pair.

So I have two options. I can add up the number of hours I spent dealing with bad government officials. Very depressing. Or I can find the positive lesson in this story, and use it as motivation for other things in my life.

Here are a few aphorisms I considered. Add one to a picture, and you have a meme.

Aanhouer wen

This is an Afrikaans idiom that means: "He (or any gender pronoun of your choice) who perseveres, wins."

It's a good lesson for all of us. It's also a lesson that's hard to remember when you are in the persevering stage, and not the winning stage.

I'm currently in the persevering stage, so I might need an image for this.

Focus on what you can do, not what you can't do

Bernard is an uneducated man who lives in a shack without running water or electricity. I can’t do much about that. (I haven’t found any adult literacy classes that would work for him. If you know of any, please let me know.)

I had decided that, if nothing else, I would get him an ID. You will not believe how difficult it is to do anything without some form of identification. Bernard doesn’t have the skills to navigate the maze of government ineptitude and documents. I do, although I wasn't always polite while doing it.

The lesson here is that you can't do everything. But you can do something. Do what you can do.

What's your meme?

I can think of many more. Like "no pain, no gain", because those phone calls were truly painful. Or "perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did".

It's my choice how I look at what's happening in my life. It's your choice too.

So what's your lesson from Bernard's id? Please share it with the rest of us.