A Good Son

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“A farmer.”

“A farmer? Your family doesn’t have land.”

“A truck driver then. They are big and high.”

“Is that the only reason?”

“Trucks take food from the farm to the city, to the big supermarkets.”

It is a parent’s worse nightmare. What kind of a son doesn’t want to be an actor, an NBA basketball player, a Premier League player, a country western singer, a rapper and other pursuits that guarantee instant wealth?

It is priorities. They are all screwed up. A son that wants to be a farmer or a truck driver understands life’s relay. He’s more valuable than the one with a million followers because he takes off his clothes.

In the pursuit for money and fame, we forget that life is quite simple: ability to grow food and share it with others. The son who wants to be a farmer, controls the source and the distribution.

We never appreciated the connection until COVID-19 hit us in the butt. There was lockdown. Don’t move. Don’t go anywhere, otherwise you’ll spread the virus. But we have to eat. So the government classified truck drivers and food delivery as essential services.

Parents used to influence kids. That’s why there were companies called Brown and Sons. That was then. Social media greatly influences kids’ dreams and it’s tied to followers. The more followers I have online, the more money I’ll make.

But we still need farmers and truck drivers because we get hungry. Credit cards cannot buy us food if freezers and shelves are empty because farmers did not produce and truck drivers did not deliver.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.