When South Africans get it right, we do a damn good job of it
Amid the chaos of our daily lives - starting with fist fights in parliament and the government's cloak and dagger stuff that spy novels are made of - we sigh, we despair, we really wonder WTF? I'm not paying for e-tolls, I hate the traffic.
But then this morning happens. And it jabs you out of your misery with such force as you realise: The almost impossible just happened - my faith in our humanity has been restored in a matter of a few hours on Jacaranda's Complimentary Breakfast show.
We don't just moan. At times we actually stop and think about what is important. We stop to help.
Carin Janse van Rensburg lost her husband last year. While attempting to stop their house from being burgled, he was shot. He died on his way to hospital. But that wasn't why she reached out and asked for help. This mother of six wanted help with funds for her three-year-old, who earlier this year was diagnosed with cancer and is receiving treatment. Now he needs an operation to save his leg. The medical bills are piling up and the family urgently needed a lifeline.
So when Dianne Broodryk and the Good Morning Angels team heard her story, they knew there was only one thing to do - ask you to help. And you did.
In one morning ordinary South Africans did the most amazing thing. They donated enough money for this toddler to have his operation. In fact, they donated enough money to cover the family's travelling expenses to Cape Town, where the operation will be done.
So what does that tell you about us as a nation? It tells you that we, the same people who've turned bitching and moaning into a fine art, potentially just saved the life of a little boy none of us knows personally.
I watched his mother cry tears of pure joy as people called in and donated various amounts. Some of them are propably wealthy business people, others with families of their own to support. The only reason they called in was the human connection.
We can't possibly understand what this mother is going through. But we tried to because her story touched so many of us. For one morning we tried to imagine someone else's situation - her pain, her anguish. We tried to make a difference in her world with one act of kindness.
So here's to you, JacarandaFM listener - bravo to you! You cared. And that's all one family needed.
Written by Faith Daniels, Head of News: JacarandaFM