OUT TO LUNCH
___STEADY_PAYWALL___
The Oxford dictionary defines a “surprise” as a feeling of mild astonishment or shock caused by something unexpected.
Personally, I’m a big fan of surprises. They detract from the monotony of every day life and often bring a warm fuzzy feeling with them. So when you open the bottle of 1980 Cabernet that you’ve been keeping for a special occasion that never arrived and it turns out to be magnificently drinkable you are very pleasantly surprised. Your only regret is not buying a whole case back in 1984 and keeping it for other special occasions that never arrived.
Or when the blood tests come back from the pathology lab and you discover that you don’t have a life threatening illness and that all those days spent Googling your imagined ailment have been a complete waste of time. That’s a very pleasant surprise. On the other hand, if the tests come back with the news that you do have a life threatening disease then that isn’t such a pleasant surprise, even if it does detract from the monotony of everyday life. Plus you tend not to get a warm fuzzy feeling.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has apparently been getting a lot of surprises lately and, to his great credit, he has registered just the right amount of astonishment to convey some sort of credibility. For example, he was genuinely surprised to learn of the depth of state capture and the damage it had done to the country during the Zupta administration. Most of the country were vicariously surprised that Cyril was surprised because we’d been reading about it in the media for the last few years and most of us could see for ourselves the devastating effect it was having on the economy.