I have before me an article from a newspaper published in Cape Town. The headline is ‘Worst fire season feared’. It goes on to quote whoever who as saying we should be very concerned and uses words like ‘fynbos’ and ‘urban edge’ and ‘endangered ecosystems’ and stuff.There is also a report on a news website published by the same newspaper group which is headlined ‘Cape Town faces devastating fires’ and uses the words ‘potentially worst on record’.

These reports are from September and October 2019. And, unless I have missed it, it did not happen. Big fires in Knysna, yes. No big fires in the Cape Peninsula. Well, not yet. The month of May could be a shocker, but I doubt it.

What I am on about is that journalism seems to have lost its way. Editors used to control the tone and accuracy of the news, but now no more. It may be well and true that people did fear a bad fire season, which did not happen, but it seems to me over-sensationalised.

This time of the coronavirus is a very interesting time for over-egging the omelette. All the sensationalist reports predict deaths and the escalation of infections to the point that it seems the human race will have to restart. It seems that the authorities have a grim intent of making life difficult. There is a saying, ‘when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers’, and the authorities do not care about it at all. People have run out of money.

Let me tell you some stories. My friend Melvin has a black belt in karate. He is a forth dan. He teaches karate. Or rather, taught. The halls he used for teaching are closed. No students. No money. The chances of building up his business again are virtually nil. Then there is Matt, a landscaper. He has had to disperse his crew who, like him, now have no money. He now buys fresh fish off the fishing boats, portions it and delivers and sells it. Not strictly legal, but he makes some pocket money. Not enough. Then there is Jacko. He has a bakkie. His line of business was to collect, on a Saturday night, all the stuff that had been stolen from houses, cars and various places during the week and deliver it to the Muizenberg flea market. Gave the cops a R500 kickback for each trip. Now, no market, no stolen goods and no kickback. It is all very well to have the highfalutin talk about ‘for the good of our society’ and ‘contain the crisis’. The authorities are creating an even more severe crisis.

Then, on the electrical front, things break and are not being repaired. Many distributors are closed. It is hard to get an electrician. Trained staff have no employment. We, as consulting engineers, do have work but it is not actually flooding in.

I want to give whoever reads this some advice. It is important at this time to give people hope, to stop them turning into embittered citizens who hate everything. Thus, if you can spare a buck or two, give it to somebody who needs it. There is always the possibility that thereafter the person will come knocking at your door and ask for more but you can always say no. Small random acts of kindness. Further, in contrast, if you have been wise enough to save up and have some savings, do not hand these out. I know this sounds obvious, but I am astonished at some elders who, when approached by their recently out-of-work offspring, give them enough to make the elder feel well and the offspring feel happy. This sort of situation cannot last – when the elder runs out of money, it is not likely that the offspring will help.

Finally, where this article started – don’t let the prophets of doom make you depressed. Bad news travels fast and is depressing but it will not last forever. If we never had bad news, we wouldn’t be able to know good news. And remember, at this time, many doors are closed but none of them are locked.