Immediately following our breadwinner, Cyril Ramaphosa's speech last night, a large portion of South African's were in tears. Not because the lockdown will continue further for some, but instead we were laughing because of Ramaphosa's mask fail.
With great anticipation, South Africa waited for the speech to find out how life may be following the expected end of the lockdown. The president's addresses now seem to come with an air of excitement, as a large portion of the country is grateful for the professional and brave way in which Ramaphosa and his team have dealt with the virus. A country in awe of a man who is enduring one of the hardest times a president must deal with, an unprecedented global pandemic which South African was not prepared for. Yet our president knew that experts were the ones to trust and not the Western countries who are leading by [terrible] example.
Mask Fumble
Thus, in our president, our dad, our breadwinner, in oom Cyril, we trust. So when our adorable president fumbled with the mask at the end of another strong, well-curated speech, social media exploded in tears. Memes were made within seconds and minutes later the #maskchallenge was crafted and dish towels, bandanna's and hoodies were uploaded covering people's eyes. A video of our 'first lady' walking in the streets with a mask on her eyes was shared, and the laughs were contagious. In a country where we are all isolated and have not been able to talk over drinks, or meals, or coffee, we all laughed together. Well, most.
Some took to social media to blast those laughing to say that it is wrong to laugh at a man who has been working so hard for us all, to laugh at a man who is tired from working day and night and to make memes out of a human mistake.
Missing the Point
The point which was missed here is that the laughter and the memes were not AT our honourable president. The country was laughing WITH our president. It was a moment which the country laughed in adoration. Some believing that he did it on purpose to cheer us up after the semi-bad news we heard about the next few months ahead. Others spoke of their crushes on our president, who they say is "just my type".
Historical Pain
In South Africa, we live in a country which has felt tremendous pain. While the generations who experienced colonisation may no longer be with us and the apartheid generations are growing old, many of us may not have been around in those trying times, and most, dare I say all, white South Africans, are not privy to the insurmountable pain which has been felt by our compatriots. The link to this pain is very direct. Majority of South African's have felt this pain through the generations above them, the pain has been passed down as most pain in life is. The stark reminders of these events are still everywhere, so it is no surprise that our country is seemingly always in pain. And we have found laughter to be a brilliant coping mechanism. A way to deal with the frustration and anger in a healthy way. We laugh, we always find laughter through the pain.
So to the ones who are trying to bring the jokes down and berate the mask challenge, please see the lighter side. Please understand that these jokes are coming from a place of love and adoration. The people who cried with laughter at the adorable clumsiness are the same people who are posting positives about our president, who are posting their admiration and loyalty to our beloved "breadwinner". It is the same people who are calling our president "dad" on Twitter.
Our laughs show our appreciation
Just as you may laugh admiringly at your dads bad jokes, we as a country are laughing at our collective dad's clumsiness. Some hoped to see his demonstration of how to greet with the elbow, but then we saw him fiddling with his mask in anticipation, and our president delivered in finishing off another great speech, with something that we won't forget anytime soon. We appreciate our president that much more with the reminder that he is human just like us. Yet he has been handed a responsibility far greater than any of us. With his human moments, we admire him even more because he is a reminder that we can all be great and step up when we are needed in whichever situation requires us too.
We are all South Africans, we have endured more than most, and our laughter must reach higher to show the world, that we are not only smart and capable, but we are hilarious too.
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