INDEX THIS | WASHINGTON DC

'Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains' - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

So, the Washington stint draws to a close...

A number of developments have occurred professionally, personally and otherwise. Amongst the many learnings there are golden-thread principles, which have persistently either come to light organically or were expressly developed through the nuances in the programmatic sense and generalized set of exposures in this environment. All testament to the sheer organizational brilliance of the people involved.

Firstly, our being here is not free; our participation in this Programme precludes another individual from partaking in this experience. This is a clear understanding that has been wrought in the ups of crescents as well as the lows of the most elusive goals. This is also something I've tried (not always successfully) to keep in mind in engaging with this type of platform. Especially in the context of countries such as South Africa, with widespread and severe depravities and significant challenges in which the relativistic nature and exposure gained is extremely stark and beneficial, even to the most ‘privileged’.

Secondly, on average, it can be said that your outlooks and beliefs undergo a definitive shellacking and clearly emerge at diametrically opposite ends on the scale of necessity. There is little room to be fastidious around principles, which emerge to be wrong, incorrect or merely inadequate or incomplete. Either they emerge far more unwittingly steadfast and determined having been sharpened at the edge of constant repetition in answer and complexity in question, or failingly derisory. In the case of the latter, you are lead to rethink and consider your basis or thesis in interacting with the larger world.

Thirdly, a number of words and, accordingly, lessons can be extracted in attempting to paint a definitive picture. Words are concerning when it comes to meaning i.e. how could a set of twenty-six characters set in series of combinations truly come together to construct the infinite array of human imagination? In any case, I digress; here are some significant words that stood out either intrinsically or explicitly in all the sessions:

Adapt. Infuse. Crystallize. Produce. Compromise. Progress. Communicate. Write.

Fourthly, if pressed, in statement I would conclude the following from these five-weeks in Washington DC:

Human development challenges are just that: human development challenges...there are no sub-sets of the human creature that are immune and the most significant impacts are made through collaboration. The minds and cultures of individuals in countries may differ, but the basic unit measure of societal consciousness, emotion, is transient and certainly non-variable to a significant extent. By extension, these challenges are largely generic in trait, transnational and independent of any border or control. People want basic things such as comfort, safety, freedom and security and so forth. Once these basic units are addressed and protected, all else will surely follow. The real question is, whether it really can be as simple as that…

Lastly, I have become a product of my environment in so far as my environment has become a product of me. To say this to you is as saying it to me - notwithstanding the less than obvious soliloquy, such is the truth and absolute nature of agency.

Concluding in the words of George Bernard Shaw in linking with the starter quote from Rousseau's The Social Contract, 'A gentlemen [sic] (or gentlewoman) is one who puts more into the world than [s]he takes out'; in which case I feel just about ready to take on that task and progress towards putting more in, now that I have been afforded the more than incredible opportunity of taking so much out. Rousseau develops that 'those who think themselves the masters of others are indeed greater slaves than they', leading in finality that SAWIP has it absolutely right...service to others can be the only way.