Emigration

One thing I know I talk a lot about is the fact that I intend to emigrate at some point in my life, with my target country being Canada. I figured I'd explain and summarise my reasons here in order to save myself the trouble of mentioning all the reasons again.

Everyone that knows me knows I have a passion for technology. I firmly believe in the use of technology to improve life for humans (and indeed, animals and nature) on earth. Some believe that technology has been destructive to the planet. I would argue that this is a result of the methods used for creation (which need serious reconsidering) and not the technology itself. Technology is impartial. What it does is create incredible human potential. We can realise and actualise ourselves in ways we never could thanks to technology.


Sadly, I live in a country that doesn't exactly embrace new changes in technology. (The fact that I am writing this on a 384kbps line should be proof enough of this point). In this incredibly beautiful city with a kilometre-high mountain, oceans, beaches and forests, there exist three million or so people. These 3 million people have to make do with roads that are barely wide enough for scooters, trains that are late every second day, government departments that have no internet portal and require twelve weeks to process drivers' licences, oppressive laws against smoking pot (seriously, it is an absolutely harmless thing to do), plenty of poor people that are on tik and will mug you, people on every street corner asking you for money you don't have just so you can park your car within a kilometre of your destination, hospitals where you wait hours for basic service.. etc.

See, this isn't a moan or complaint about the way things are here. As I said, Cape Town is stunningly beautiful and I appreciate it for that, more than anyone will ever know. My illustration above points to the fact that it is DYSFUNCTIONALLY RUN. And how can't it be, when only 26% of the country's adult population even has a matric?


The reason I want to emigrate, then, has nothing to do with racism and does not mean I don't love my country. (I do). It has to do with a wish - or perhaps more than that - a feeling of entitlement to live in a fully functional society. In such a society, my talents will be far better appreciated than they would here. In such a society, I would have many more opportunities to learn and improve on my exisiting skills and develop new ones. From this position, I might be able to return to South Africa and see what I can do here once I have some international impact.

Countries are essentially silly concepts. I recognise this, of course. We live in the WORLD, not a country. We don't need more reasons to think we are different from each other. That is why I would feel no remorse about improving the 'Canadian' economy as opposed to the 'South African' economy. Countries are arbitrarily defined borders to create a proxy about where you are. Sadly, your country seems to determine quite a lot of your life. It's a pity. And then, I suppose, the best way to overcome this is to be a successful world citizen instead of a successful (insert country here) citizen.