One Love. One Heart. Let’s get together and feel all right.

That great anthem to hope that is unifying in bringing together people from all levels of society, to change for the better, and overcome life’s obstacles. My source tells me that it is an empowering, optimistic view held by Bob Marley, carried throughout much of his life as an artist and activist, to embody solidarity and goodwill. There must have been a lot wrong with this philosophy back in the old South Africa. You see, in those days if the government did not like something about a person, they were outright banned, and so Bob Marley and his music were banned. Here is the surprise: He upset the Americans as well and was threatened with deportation at some stage.

There is a lot to be said about coming together. December with the family visiting, we had plenty opportunity to feel all right. One of our spur of the moments was a trip to Stellenbosch. Having done the tourist thing, I suggested a local wine farm. They make really good scones; I told the family. Well, I suppose the idea was good, but why eat scones at a wine farm, and very quickly our quick pop in turned into an exceedingly long and leisurely lunch over a couple of bottles of wine. We completely overstayed our welcome, but nobody seemed to mind. We made exceptionally good memories that day.

Last Sunday, we received a last-minute invite to meet up with friends, who have moved to the other end of the West Coast. We are around for a day or two. Let’s get together and be all right, they said. So, we did. We ended up having lunch at one of the most scenic spots, a quick half hour drive away. Lunch this time involved other new experiences: drinking hot cognac. I believe it is a Portuguese tradition to serve it in a balloon glass over another glass containing hot water, with an espresso on the side. New Portuguese family I am sure can educate us on the merits of the method. Either way, it made us feel all right. Again, we made good memories that day.

So why all this talk of Bob Marley? Chatting in a group yesterday, the question was posed: If you could choose a slogan to describe yourself and your environment, what would it be? That’s easy, I thought. Oh, said Person with the Bright Idea, it may not be longer than five words. Faced with the impossible (Sjarlene? Five words?), I came up with Let’sget together nowandfeel allright. Ha! There you have it. Four words!

Sadly, Bob Marley died at a youthful age of melanoma. Which, if one thinks about it, was not the worst of his problems. You see, postmortem, it was established that he had nineteen varied species of lice in his dreadlocks. Yes, I know. As you were reading this, you developed an itch somewhere on your body. Funny thing, hey? One mention of lice, and you get an itch.

So don’t you worry bout a thing, because everything is gonna be all right. Some Bob Marley wisdom, just in case there is somebody out there, reading this, that needs reminding.