Letters to My Children
by Jonathan Jansen
Jonathan Jansen has become something of a guru to many people in South Africa since he joined the University of the Free State (UFS) as its new rector and vice-chancellor. Not only is he one of our most prolific producers of written copy, but he is also respected as a thinker, particularly in the fields of transformation, reconciliation and educational change.
He was formerly dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Pretoria.
His particular stance in the case that became known as the “Reitz Four” brought him praise and criticism from all over the country and today he is one of the most recognised figures in South Africa.
In this little book, one that is sure to fly off the shelves, he combines his experience and wisdom with his knowledge of how young people of today communicate with one another. These letters were originally sent via Facebook and Twitter, and he realises that this already puts a lot of his older fans at a disadvantage if you are not familiar with these social networks.
He gives us an introduction to the terminology such as the use of the @ sign, and terms like tweet and retweet, blog, poke, profile, chat and at least three dozen more. Tweeting means that you may post a message of no more than 140 characters. These are sent to your cellphone or through the many new ways of sending and receiving messages electronically.
By putting these tweets into a book, he is actually helping technologically-challenged “oldies” participate in modern ways of communication.
We usually end up, later in life, repeating the phrases “my mother used to say” and “my father’s favourite expression was…” and Jansen decided to put to paper what he really wanted to pass on to his two children, Mikhail and Sara Jane. He committed himself to writing a letter every day for a whole year.
Eventually it dawned on him that this was not only for his biological children, but also for his other 30 000 “children” at UFS.
His daily letters contain a short statement of a precious lesson he himself learned “somewhere on the road of life”.
The tweets became so popular that he soon reached the limit of the number of “friends” that Facebook allowed and his Twitter account reached 11 000 after the first 100 tweets. It is clear that a lot of people log in for Jansen’s tweets before they start their day.
Within them is his whole philosophy of life in a few well-chosen words, such as “Here is the secret of dealing with peer pressure – choose the right peers” or “Never let anyone force you to choose between your white brother and your black brother; choose your brother”.
Also: “Do not tolerate those who differ from you; embrace them.”
It is clear that behind every Tweet lies a world of insight and wisdom. None of his tweets leave me cold. – Ampie Muller