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indwe magazine – Jan 2006
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From the Top
Letter from the CEO – Siza Mzimela |
 Let’s face it: it is so difficult to come up with a meaningful New Year’s resolution that most of us have given up while our dignity is still intact. After decades of making all sorts of vows that bear no resemblance whatsoever to (and are therefore not in any way supported by) our lifestyles, many of us have opted for the only face-saving route: smiling indulgently and declaring ourselves beyond involvement in this practice that, so patently, does not work.Yet we cannot get away from the fact that our calendar and social conditioning have conspired to create a certain expectancy within us at the start of each new year. The 1st of January is not just another day, not quite. It still holds out the tempting possibility of a new beginning, a clean slate, a chance for greatness. It would be a grave error to equate greatness with material wealth or fame. The rich and famous, just like the rest of us, are not without exception nice people. What defines greatness more accurately, in my opinion, is the ability and the willingness to contribute to society, the commitment to the greater good, the readiness to lend a helping hand where one finds an opportunity to make a difference. Greatness, by this definition, is within all our grasps and it requires very little by way of supportive lifestyle. If you see the opportunity and you are in a position to, do something. If you don’t see it, don’t worry about it. It is not solely your responsibility. Allow me to propose that we make 2006 the Year Of Random Acts Of Kindness. Let us do little things to brighten other people’s days, to provoke smiles and warm, fuzzy feelings. It does not need to cost anything at all – a sincere compliment to a colleague, a friendly wave and a wry smile to a fellow traffic-jammer, a ‘thank you’ where one is deserved and maybe not said frequently enough. Of course, if you do have the budget, you can really go to town! This, I feel, is the stuff of greatness and no other nation on the face of the earth, I am convinced, is better equipped to achieve greatness than South Africans. May 2006 be a year of greatness. At your service – till next month… |