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I have come to believe that poverty is a social construct. Poverty of the mind. The ultimate human endeavour, the great equaliser, is the fight for survival. And in the fight for survival, your efforts to stem poverty could be putting someone at risk of contracting covid-19. Some choose to live on the very edge of that struggle. What right do we have to judge their existence, deem it substandard and decide to help them to live exactly the way we do?

It’s empowering to realise that everything I do is a choice. I choose to be employed and have a bond. Every day I make the choice to maintain the lifestyle I am accustomed to. If everyday is a battle for survival, then why concern yourself about what your fellow man is doing or not doing to survive coronavirus?

Life on the edge, poverty of the mind I wonder what motivated a millionaire real estate developer to welcome a homeless couple into his California mansion…

There are those, like emergency service workers, who make it their life mission to help other people. Maybe, because their own basic needs are being met daily. And then there are caseworkers, nurses and doctors, who help those in distress. They help people in the daily fight for survival. It is a calling.

Rags to riches By giving the beggar a few randelas, all you are doing is appeasing your guilt. You feel guilt. You choose guilt. And simply because your life looks different (you imagine better) than the lowly beggar. But the beggar is highly successful at this thing called life. For them, everyday is a miracle. Begging is how they choose to engage with the world.

To demonstrate the power of the human spirit, lets take a look at Oprah’s story

This demonstrates that each one of us has the power to live a life of our choosing. We can similarly choose to be limited by constructs of race, birth or time and space. But it’s a choice nonetheless. What did you choose today?

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I have this amazing ability to surround myself with interesting human beings. Over this period of lockdown, something strange came over me. I quite enjoy having my husband at home. My moments with Mo. Our lazy days are spent pursuing whatever makes us happy. Because I found healing.

Judgment day has come and gone. I have been labelled bi-polar. When in reality I just struggled to cope with the world that I had created for myself. Child birth. The disciplinary hearing at work. My choice to remain in a toxic relationship.

And that’s okay. She’s okay. I’m okay. More than okay. Now that I figured out that the sky is not falling. That the world as I know it is not ending, everything is in equilibrium. I just had another epiphany while chatting to hubby. Moments with Mo is brought to you by Spudcaster!

Bishop Brian Abrahams of the Moravian Church delivered this sermon as part of a series entitled “Resurrection Wonders”. The Moravian Church in Bellville, Cape Town, set up this podcast in response to the lockdown. So drop us an email if you would like to subscribe. And visit the Spudcaster page for more podcasts.

Stephen McFarlane delivered this sermon for Saint Mark’s Methodist Church in Maraisburg. It is entitled “My peace I leave with you”. The Florida Methodist Church set up this podcast in response to the lockdown. So visit the Spudcaster page for more podcasts.

Reverend Nombulelo Mbewu recorded this Reflection at home. The reflection is entitled “Jesus appears to Thomas”. It also features last year’s Easter Cantata. It is based on the New Testament reading at John 20:26-29. The Florida Methodist Church set up this podcast in response to the lockdown. So drop us an email if you would like to subscribe. And visit the Spudcaster page for more podcasts.

Reverend Kelvin Harris brings this Easter service, entitled “Easter! Easter is still to come”. It is based on the following scripture readings:

Matthew 28:1-15

The podcast is produced as a service to the church community and friends. During this time of lockdown, sermons will be pre-recorded and then uploaded onto the podcast. So visit the Spudcaster page for more podcasts.

Reverend Heidi Petersen delivered the first sermon after Easter. Under the theme “Nothing is ever the same, thank God”. And it is premised on Matthew 28: 2-4. After that the Grace United Church Choir performed the closing hymn entitled “We shall go out with hope of resurrection”. Easter is celebrated under an extended lockdown in the face of a global pandemic. The podcast is a service to the church community and friends. So visit the Spudcaster page for more podcasts.

So there’s this idea going around in my head. Suspended reality. They have us convinced that because of coronavirus, we have temporarily suspended reality, when in actual fact, because of coronavirus we are presently experiencing reality. Think about it. You’ve been told to stay home in order to save your life. And without the noise you realise that you’ve been living your best life all along.

Any psychologist would love to be inside my head right now. To be able to study any human brain during a lockdown, that’s gold right there. And they don’t have to go that far either. We have all become the experiment. In South Africa, they have cut off the supply of cigarettes and alcohol. For obvious reasons, I gather. Alcohol is a depressant. Forcing people to stay at home and allowing them to stew in depression is a sure fire recipe for disaster. This is the smart lockdown.

Don’t be distracted by the noise. Switch off your tv. They cannot tell you anything you don’t already know. Like the insurance industry, the media is like the public’s stunt devil. So they’re out there in the mean streets, wearing masks. Risking their lives to tell you about the great wonders on the empty streets of Johannesburg. But this is one reality that cannot be manufactured.

This is real life. When last did you catch a sunrise? Yesterday, you say? That is real life. There is no need for any of us to distract ourselves with work and world politics and social media. You are alive, experiencing. You are supposed to be enjoying. This is what sets us apart from the older generation alive today. Their whole lives were lived under lockdown. They kept to themselves in their little neighbourhoods, went to work and had very active social lives. We got distracted with believing that we need to compete with our neighbour for attention. That’s all facebook is.

It took a virus, to jolt us back into reality. This is it.

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The capitalist world order has fallen. It has proven itself inadequate in the face of a global viral pandemic. In my country, the capitalist DA is begging for a return to work. They want to shore up the economy. They want to maintain the status quo. There was a historic compact that lead to the dawn of democracy. The black under privileged class was given the levers of political power. But the whites kept the money. Former state president, Thabo Mbeki recalls the time.

In the time of coronavirus, it’s the political levers that prove the most powerful, with the gloating businessmen left with nothing but paper. At no time before in our varied social discourse have humans been confronted with their own mortality. This is on an unprecedented scale. And despite all our advances in medicine and science, a simple virus is gutting the population. As at 12:15 pm SA time, the world recorded two million infections and over 127 000 deaths.

But regardless of one’s political worldview, the virus doesn’t stop once the lockdown restrictions are lifted. In order to survive, we need to change the way we relate with the world and each other.

DW video

Life after lockdown We will all have to learn to live with the virus. Wearing masks, practising social distancing, frequent hand washing. We cannot simply return to our churches and mosques. Our global sporting events. Our movie theatres and malls. The virus lives. The virus lies in wait.

I’ll give you an example. Redi Thlabi reported that her cousin in law succumbed to covid-19. He had never even travelled outside the country. Instead, the capitalist system forced him to attract tourists, who were carrying the virus. He ran a coffee shop in Soweto. All he wanted to do in life was to attend funerals, possibly in the hopes that people would celebrate him in the same way when he died. He didn’t have to die. The system killed him

Everyone talks about life after lockdown as though it’s a return to the status quo. But it cannot be. We cannot simply return to a system that threatened our very survival. Capitalism means we all pile into public transport, or cars on heavily congested roads. We then congregate in office parks with air conditioning. We send our children to schools. Perfect environment for the virus to spread. No, it cannot be business as usual. Not this time. Not ever. It’s time to shift priorities.

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Social media provides fodder for my delusions. I’m supposed to be staying away from it. But alas! Anyway, I figure I’m not hurting anyone. And it makes for interesting conversation points. Consequently, I’d like to welcome you to the first instalment of CAn’t diss: Episode I. For more tantalising podcasts, visit the Spudcaster page.