in983-The-Rainbow-Kingdom-in-the-Pen-Holder-Protea-and-the-Light-of-Freedom

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Every April, South Africans gaze at the fluttering rainbow flag on “Freedom Day” (April 27). This national flag, which combines six colors of black, yellow, green, white, blue and red, is just like the cross-section of the Protea flower pen holder – the national flower carved on the wooden container blooms layer by layer, perfectly blending different colors and textures. This pen holder, created by craftsmen in Cape Town, hides the most moving metaphor of South Africa. The dark brown wooden base at the bottom of the pen holder is the heavy rings left by colonial history; the upward-extending Protea flower buds use thorny stems to tell the hardships of struggle; and the fully stretched crimson crown is the blazing dawn that broke through apartheid in 1994. When the pen holders of various colors are stored in it, it is like fingers of different skin colors holding the pen that writes the future together. As the national flag designer said: “The beauty of the rainbow lies in the fact that different colors maintain boundaries but complement each other.” The Protea flower pen holder reminds South Africans: those sharp thorns that once stabbed each other will eventually become armor to protect new life. When the morning light shines through the glass dome of the Parliament Building and onto the pen holders of the parliamentarians, each pen is writing the spirit of “Ubuntu” – “I exist because everyone exists”. On this Freedom Day, I hope that every South African will have such a pen holder on his desk: one that can hold the ink deposited by history, the collision of diverse thoughts, and the unremitting upward growth of a nation.

Elke April staar Suid-Afrikaners na die wapperende reënboogvlag op Vryheidsdag (27 April). Hierdie nasionale vlag, wat ses kleure van swart, geel, groen, wit, blou en rooi kombineer, is net soos ‘n dwarssnit van ‘n protea-penhouer – die nasionale blom wat op die houthouer gekerf is, blom laag vir laag en meng verskillende kleure en teksture perfek. Hierdie penhouer, geskep deur vakmanne in Kaapstad, bevat die mees ontroerende metafoor van Suid-Afrika. Die donkerbruin houtbasis onderaan die penhouer is ‘n swaar herinnering aan koloniale geskiedenis; die keiserlike blomknoppe wat opwaarts strek, gebruik hul doringagtige stingels om die ontberinge van die stryd te vertel; en die volledig uitgestrekte bloedrooi kroon is die vlammende dagbreek van die deurbraak van apartheid in 1994. Wanneer penhouers van verskillende kleure daarin gebêre word, is dit soos vingers van verskillende velkleure wat gesamentlik die pen vashou om die toekoms te skryf. Soos die nasionale vlagontwerper gesê het: “Die skoonheid van die reënboog lê daarin dat verskillende kleure grense handhaaf, maar mekaar aanvul.” Die koningprotea-penhouer herinner Suid-Afrikaners: die dorings wat mekaar eens seergemaak het, sal uiteindelik wapenrusting word om nuwe lewe te beskerm. Wanneer die oggendlig deur die glaskoepel van die Kapitool en op die penhouers van die kongreslede skyn, skryf elke pen steeds die gees van “Ubuntu” – “Ek bestaan omdat almal bestaan.” Op hierdie Vryheidsdag hoop ek dat elke Suid-Afrikaner ‘n penhouer soos hierdie op hul lessenaar sal hê: een wat die ink wat deur die geskiedenis neergelê is, kan hou, die botsing van uiteenlopende gedagtes kan akkommodeer, en die onophoudelike opwaartse groei van ‘n nasie kan ondersteun.