Sunset on Kerkennah Island in Tunisia.
(c) Zaid Ismail
June 2008
Tag: photo
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This photo was taken with my cell phone from the plane just before landing. In this photo you can see the sprawling township of Soweto to the bottom left (probably less than 5% of the actual township which houses over 3 million people), three huge mine dumps in the front centre and left, and the national soccer stadium that is famed for being shaped like an African pot (or calabash) just off centre to the right. The CBD of Johannesburg is in the distance with one last notable land mark being the mine dump that is currently being demolished to the centre left. The removal of numerous mine dumps around the city in recent years has resulted in a massively changing landscape.
Urban legend has it that the mine dumps, being a remnant of the very early mining days in and around Johannesburg, are still rich in gold dust because of the less than efficient mining practises of days gone by. After a Japanese firm offered to purchase the seemingly worthless land for a pretty penny, it sparked renewed interest in the dumps resulting in the sand being reprocessed and reasonable quantities of gold once again being extracted from these mine dumps. Whether or not there is any truth to this, I may never know. But it does make for an interesting tale to tell my grandchildren some day.
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I’ve been waking up the last few days with this part of this specific ayat in my head. The full text of the ayat reads:
[Jacob] said, “Rather, your souls have enticed you to something, so patience is most fitting. Perhaps Allah will bring them to me all together. Indeed it is He who is the Knowing, the Wise.” ` Sahih International
Photo: (c) Cynically Jaded
N3 Highway heading towards Johannesburg, South Africa, December 2010
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Standing still is your enemy
Before – October 2009
After – February 2012 The table cloth descending on Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa, with a stranded ship in the foreground. I photographed this ship shortly after it ran aground in a storm close to the shore, and went back there on my recent trip to see how it had fared in the stormy seas of the Cape.
It didn’t fare too well at all. It is a stark reminder of people that think that by standing still, nothing will change and they’ll be unaffected by life. No matter how firmly rooted we are in what we believe or how we see life, no matter how much we resist change, we will change. But in resisting it, that change will always be for the worst.
A principled approach to being adaptable is what saves our sanity in the face of life’s storms.
