Riding with James Dean. 4/30/2004
Much has been said lately about the NS that the 18 year olds of this country are currently undergoing. Incidents involving theft, bullying, grevious harm, molestation, rape, unfair and unethical treatment, and sub standard food, amongst others, have been reported in the press, and various blogs.
It is sad to note that what started off as a well intentioned plan to provide the youth of this country with a common purpose and sense of unity has now disintegrated into a quagmire of incompetence, cronyism, corruption and degradation. There seems to have been no proper standard operating procedures or manuals incorporated into the training, where both facilitators and trainess alike will have a clear idea of what is to be provided to them, and what is expected of them. Trainees are made to wait for hours, whilst activities that are planned do not start on time, or the camps run into transportation logistics problems.
Sending young trainees into camps for indoctrination into something the government wants them to believe, and the way they are supposed to think, is a recipe for disaster. I have yet to meet the 18 year old who will do exactly as he or she is told. Teenagers are grudgingly compliant at the best of times, and forcing them to do something they don’t want to is not the way to mold them into being better citizens.
I give you a real life case. AZ is a young lad, just finished his high school, where he didn’t do too well. He is a regular attendee at the track where we practise and race, even though he comes from a lower income family, and obviously did not have the resources to start racing superbikes. But he was keen, and enthusiatic, and wasn’t afraid to learn, or work hard. He used to hang out with his friends, riding small 2 stroke bikes, usually stolen, or unlicensed, late at night, racing illegally on the streets, until one day he meet one of our group, and was invited to watch a track day. He was initially reluctant, but come out of curiosity.
His friends had told him not to get ideas above his station in life, that superbikers were a pompous and arrogant lot, that we would all laugh at him from turning up on his small, cheap motorcycle. The opposite was true. We treated him like a younger brother, and showed him our gear, and our bikes, and welcomed his help for things like moving bikes around and getting water and stuff. And occassionally, more often than not, one of us would lend him a race suit, and helmet, and he would get the chance to ride a full monty race bike around a world class racing circuit, for free.
We discovered that AZ had a talent for riding motorcycles. Raw, unfinished, rough, but talent all the same. He was young, and brave, and this counted in his favour. Until he got his letter calling him for the NS. He was devastated, because he would miss the initial practice days, and the first 2 races of the season. We had promised him a full ride in one of the races, fully sponsored, as a reward for all the help he had given us. We had all agreed to put forward $50 per rider, and this would pay for his race license and entrance fee and rental for a race bike. And he was really looking forward to it. We consoled him by saying he could do it later in the year, but he was inconsolable. 18 year olds are not known for their patience.
So with heavy heart, he went off to NS, and hated every minute of it. We received numberous SMS messages from him on the bad food, degrading treatment, lack of organisation, that he was experiencing. He simply cannot wait for it to be over, so that he can come back to the thing he loves most.
So thus, we have a case of a young man, who was being molded by his mentors, by people he looked up to and respected, who were giving him a direction and probably a career, taken away to submit himself to an ill executed government plan aimed at building so-called ‘unity’, that ‘unity’ being the official, approved government version. When at the track, he was learning everything he needed to know to becoming a useful, contributing member of society. With a little help from his friends.
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