A bird in the hand ANY YEARS A60, I was walking to my junior schoo! when a cat crossed my path. I noticed that it had some kind of prey in its mouth, so I grabbed it, pried its jaws open, and pulled out a bird, But this was no ordinary bird; it was one I had never seen before, with a yel- low beak and iridescent blue feathers, ‘and tail feathers three times the length ofits body. As it lay in my hand with its eyes closed, I stood thinking what a terrible shame it was that such a beauti- fal ereature had died. Then, suddenly, in the blink of an eye, the bird stirred and I watched in amazement and joy as it flew off. wished I had a witness, someone to verify the moment, but there was no-one about. Thave no idea how long the bird's reprieve from the inevitable lasted. Per- haps its ordeal had rendered it incapable of continuing the struggle with nature, in which all creatures compete. But be- ing a child ~ and subject to the optimism to0 often attributable only to the naiveté of youth ~I entertained only the most optimistic of outcomes. ‘As I grow older, I find myself trying to recapture that youthful optimism... [find myself trying very, very hard. ‘When I immigrated to America from South Africa, [was amazed at the ‘number of similarities between the two cultures. Even our histories of coloni- sation and conquest were practically identical. New York was originally New ‘Amsterdam, named by Duteh colonists ~ before that conquest was usurped by the English. Sound familiar? Jan van Rie- beeck founded the Cape Colony 27 years after Willem Verhulst established New ‘Amsterdam. And I recall once hearing that the system of apartheid was based on the “separate but equal” charade es- tablished by the US Supreme Court. ‘There are many other similarities ~ but yes, it was the relationship between white and black that I found the most disturbingly familiar, ‘The United States officially ended its system of “separate but equal” in 1954. In 1991 South Africa followed suit, hold- ing its last “whites only” referendum the 6 ATG TN RUT 4 OE Pre dic| Be LC Ea rug Ea flew off as eye ‘rm Dec 2008 following year. So the racist attitudes Tencountered in the US were usually ‘more subtle than those of post-apartheid South Africa. But they were still there, Thave heard the word “nigger” more than once in America, but iis stil less commonly heard than is the word "kaffi” in my native land. Until very recently Tsuspected that this was only because ‘Americans have had more time to learn how to hide their prejudices. Historically the United States has often been a world leader in social inno- vation and egalitarianism, but in recent decades it has seemed to march to a ‘more nationalistic drum. ‘Soon after arriving here I watched the election of Dick Cheney to the office of vviee president ~ and this was a man who hhad openly opposed Nelson Mandela's release from imprisonment. So when the Democrats nominated Barack Obama as their candidate, the outcome of the presidential election, was, I felt abso- Jutely sure, a foregone conclusion. The Republicans would onee again claim the presidency. ‘But here we are, six months on, and ‘tho US has its first black president, and stands on the verge of leading the world into an era of post-racial polities. It may just be the greatest contribution the US hhas yet made to a world still shackled by bigotry ofall stripes. i's my hope that some day South “Africa will follow suit, so that colour T | falls away as a factor in elections, to be superseded by Ea the desire to elect, those most capable of dealing with the realities ofthe day. Perhaps this optimism is nothing 4, J) snore than a return to the naiveté of childhood. But, right now, I'm trying hard to be that Sy little itt who imagined beautiful bird eseap- ing a predator's jaws to live happily ever after.