I love news and I love great stories. But I’m so exhausted from reading messy politics and violent news every time I connect to one of my devices.
South African and American politics are a bit of an obsession, so when I’m not reading or tweeting I’m watching TV news.
But I’m tired. I am drained by all the hyper partisanship and even the lightning fast news that I admit, I am hooked on.
Low Tolerance for Disagreement
Why have we all developed such a low tolerance for disagreement and discussion? We are living in the time of snap judgements, generalizations, lack of curiosity and the blasting out of fixed ideas that make a heluva lot of noise. It is days like this that I miss our beloved Tata Madiba and his measured wisdom.
I have come to the conclusion that immersing myself in politics is both toxic and exhausting. So I’ve decided to regularly feature a few stories that uplift me. Stories that amuse, educate or inspire me.
The first one sort of belongs in the political realm, but it has a wonderfully creative and fun angle:
“Mail and Guardian is reporting that either National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete, newly appointed deputy president of the ANC Lindiwe Sisulu or ANC MP Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma might be chosen to step in as possible interim presidents when Zuma steps down (fingers crossed).
These three women are all very different politicians and hopefully, if chosen to lead us, they will make many significant contributions in terms of gender equality and other issues that affect women.
And I want them to wear feminist t-shirts. With some jeans, but a more formal pairing could definitely work.”
In Chile three border collies are planting seeds and bringing life back to forests destroyed by fire
Three Border Collies in Chile
The next story comes from South America, from Chile, where three Border collies are transforming a landscape.
Arden alrededores de #Cureptopic.twitter.com/d7hKWBuv6W
— Davor Gjuranovic (@dondavor) January 27, 2017
In January and February 2017 the forest fires in Chile raged for weeks. “It started with a burst of flames in the steep Chilean hillsides of Valparaíso, two days after crowds celebrated New Year’s. Then flames started popping up farther south. Since then, almost 100 fires have burned hundreds of thousands of acres across the country.
A month later, many of the fires are still burning in what President Michelle Bachelet has called the “greatest forest disaster” in Chilean history.”
The Border Collies are called Summer, Olivia and Das and they spend their days bounding through charred forests, leaving trails of seeds, which are transforming the landscape.
The photos are spectacular.
“Replanting the vast forests will take years, but border collies Summer, Olivia and Das are trying to bring some greenery back to the dead forest in the meantime. The dogs scamper through the charred remains wearing special backpacks loaded with seeds. As they run they leave a trail of seeds. The hope is that once seedlings, grass and flowers take hold, insects will return, followed by some of the reptiles, birds and mammals that fled.”
