Dear Shaper,
I felt like I needed to talk about this because, sometimes — I don't know if it's just because I'm in my bubble — but I feel like in other parts of the world, people are building at young ages, taking initiative, leaving home early to do different things. And I sometimes wonder whether we realise just how fast the world is moving.
But that could also be because of the different dynamics at play in different places.
A lot of the infrastructure has already been done in other parts of the world, and so maybe people there don't have to think about the things that a lot of people — or some people — on the continent have to deal with. So I kind of understand that. But I also think that it's a cultural thing. Or maybe I'm not saying it the right way. What I mean is, we need to be more like, let's make things happen.
I feel like we need to have that culture of, let's make things happen. Let's build things. Let's solve the problems that we see around us, because at the end of the day, that's the whole purpose of education: to observe the things around us and solve problems.
And so, could it be that these gadgets and these platforms have been designed to keep some of us asleep, so that we're not aware of the dynamics, or the change, or the fact that we are in a world where people are building things and making the rules? In order for us to also participate, we also have to build things, and make decisions, and make things happen, and write the rules — so that the rules don't get written and then we just have to accept them because we never took the initiative to participate in the rule-making. If that makes sense. So, indecision is a decision. The decision not to do anything is also a decision to accept things the way they are.
One of the quotes that I really love is, never complain about something you do nothing about.
Sometimes that's how I feel. I feel like we need to be more aware that we need to make things happen. So I guess that's maybe the difference between a consumer society and a production society. Because a lot of the things that we consume on the continent especially are things that other people have created or produced.
I'm saying, how do we start creating the things that others receive, the way we've received what others created — at least for ourselves first, and then for the rest of the world. Because otherwise, the people who are creating the things will tend to control how things work out. I'm trying to find the right words to say this properly, but all I'm saying is that I feel like we need to gradually shift our culture from being a consumer society to being more of a production society. The people producing, the people making things happen — they're the people making the decisions, they're the people writing the rules. I feel like we need to become more like that. And I feel like sometimes, or for a long time, it has been more like, "Oh, that is for the politicians," or "that is for the diplomats," or "that is for whoever." We kind of push that authority to other people, when we have that authority in and of ourselves. We have that authority around us. We have that authority in our world. Everyone has their own world where they have their areas of influence, and I feel like we need to be more intentional about using that, and becoming more active participants as citizens of wherever we find ourselves.
So, what am I saying? I'm saying a lot of things, but at the end of the day, I'm saying: how do we go for depth? I think maybe I'm also going away from what the letter title is — choosing depth over the algorithm — but maybe not really, because I feel like we need to take more action. But not haphazard action. That's where depth comes in.
All of us have been given different assignments, different things that we've been called to do by God.
I believe that strongly, and I believe that if everybody solved the problems God has called them to solve, or has anointed them or graced them to solve, then we wouldn't really have a problem. Everything would work out.
So it's not just about showing up and taking haphazard action, but going for depth. It's very important. If you say you're going to be an engineer, then be the best engineer possible. Go deep. Don't just be surface level. Don't just be like, "Okay, this is what I studied in university." Go deep into it.
Nobody forced you to choose that — I hope. I hope so. If that's what you're passionate about, then go deep, so that your decision-making also benefits those around you because of the quality of those decisions. Because you are doing the things you are doing with wisdom. So I feel like a lot of us may be asleep, put to sleep by the algorithms. Because the algorithms are controlling social media, controlling what we want, controlling our attention, controlling the use of our time. And so we are substituting that for depth. Meanwhile, we need depth in order to transform the continent. We need depth in order to be able to make change and make a difference. Otherwise, we're just going to be recycling the same old things, because we're using common sense. But if common sense were that helpful, then we would already be where we want to be. You know what I mean? So we have to go deeper. We have to go for uncommon sense — and uncommon sense comes from depth.
So yeah, this is a letter to go deeper. This is a letter to say: hey, what am I truly passionate about, and how can I go deep with it? Whatever it is.
If you love taking care of animals, go deep on that. Really, really be the best at it. And that's the thing as well. We have so many tools now. There's no excuse, literally. We have AI, we have access to so much.
But if you're not even awake to the fact that the opportunity is right there — if you're not asking how to leverage these tools and resources to really gain capacity — then what are we doing? And that's why I'm saying that our generation, Africa's Gen Z, or Gen Z in general, is in such a beautiful position.
Because we have so much leverage now. We have so many tools now that we can take advantage of to make the change that we want to see, and to cause the transformation that we want to see. So what am I saying? I'm saying that we need to participate more in the affairs of our society. We need to really stop allowing people to write the rules for us, and start taking the initiative to write the rules, and to participate, and to take action, and to do the things that we need to do in the different spheres that God has called us to.
So, this is a letter to the one who is choosing depth over the algorithm. Thank you very much for your time, and I'll see you on the next one.