Bart Henderson is a leading forensic auditor and CEO of Henderson Solutions, an enterprise risk management firm

Thanks President Jacob Zuma for your State of the Nation address. However, the big picture is missed for me.

It seems small-mindedness and self-centeredness have crept into our national psyche. Our national psyche is a manifestation of the meaning and implementation of our domestic policy.

This manifestation and implementation of our domestic policy that so affects our national psyche, drives the perception of our nation as a whole in the eyes of the world. This – in turn – gives meaning to our projected foreign policy.

I subscribe to John Perlman via the Web. Perlman posted this on his wall a few days ago:
“I love the idea that we will have Nelson Mandela on our banknotes. And I’m looking forward to the ways in which this is going to enrich our already well-spiced languages. My first offering: ‘Sweetheart! Good to see you! You look like a million Madibas!’”

I found myself smiling at Perlman. He actually has a tongue-in- cheek humour that turns a lot of heavy stuff into something that doesn’t suck our spirits all the time.

In any event, Perlman solicited some swift responses and there were a few I think I should share with you.

Musa Shongwe – How does that answer the national question (sic)

Malaika Wa Azania – How does that change the conditions of the working-class majority?

John Perlman – @Musa; @Malaika: It doesn’t Bart Henderson – @Perlman It does. @Musa and @Malaika...It gives the working class majority a face. It reminds the working class of everything it was, is and aspires to. It reminds the working class, of so many things, most of all to reach within itself, to dare to dream and to never forget their common humanity. If that means nothing to the working class, well then so is that what it will mean. However, it does answer the national question and it does change the conditions of the working-class majority.

My comment elicited the following reply:

Lebogang Play Mukansi – Its a populist move nothing more than a peacock flexing its tale. istead making a dent in important spaces he like to put on side shows. why marginilise and malign the struggle by individualising the sttuggle. big blunder in my book. white people love mandela and i can understand the hysteria but to all others i say wake up realise how much of detraction this is from the anc stance of collectivisnm and collective leadership. All those that stood against tyranny should be represented not only the mandela. a far better memorial would have been all.the struggle elders as a group or with comomerative notes of heroes of all sectors in society. (sic)

Mandela is the face that represents a miracle. Mandela is the face that represents a time when people decided to stop tearing at each others’ throats.

Mandela represents a time when our nation – collectively, I might add – allowed an illusive thing called common sense to prevail.

This spawned a document, a document that US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is currently taking flack for, for holding up as the model for the rest of the world: our constitution.

Here’s an excerpt from Foreign Policy Magazine: “Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is taking some heat from conservative blogs for a recent interview with Egypt’s Al-Hayat TV, in which she suggests that the US constitution might not be the best model for post-revolutionary Egypt.

Asked by the English-speaking interviewer whether she thought Egypt should use the constitutions of other countries as a model, Ginsburg said Egyptians should be “aided by all constitution-writing that has gone on since the end of World War II”.

“I would not look to the US constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012. I might look at the constitution of South Africa,” says Ginsburg, “it really is, I think, a great piece of work that was done. Much more recent than the US constitution.”

The author of the Foreign Policy article Joshua Keating writes: “What makes the post-apartheid document, which came into effect in 1997, so unique, is its inclusion of positive rights. In addition to freedom from discrimination – including on the basis of sexual orientation, disability or religion – and freedom of speech, under chapter two of the constitution, South Africans have the right to ‘make decisions concerning reproduction’, ‘form a political party’, or ‘form and join a trade union’.”

What we’ve got here is... failure to communicate.

We have no clue who we are, president Zuma, because we are so busy reminding ourselves of who we were and what we are, that we’ve forgotten who we desire to be, as a nation.

It’s what Lebogang preaches – ignorance; and what Keating portrays us as – ignorant. That is the big picture.

Two people saying the same thing about the same people, but from diametrically opposing views, ideologies and races (I think) and both are right.

Fix our self-perception and fix the world’s perception of us. Fix this and you fix the state of our nation.