Kananelo Boloetse
There’s an old saying that “the nail that sticks out gets hammered down.” It seems Basotho have taken this to heart, not just as a cautionary tale but as a way of life. Instead of disrupting the status quo, we have perfected the art of conforming, even when the status quo is visibly sinking like a cow in quicksand.
And before anyone gets their feathers ruffled, let me make one thing clear: this is not a call to arms. It’s merely a mirror. What you do after looking into it? None of my business.
We live in a society where people tiptoe around opinions like they’re walking on hot coals.
Social media? Oh, forget about it. Many would rather scroll in silence than be seen liking, sharing, or, heaven forbid, commenting on something that might ruffle the wrong feathers. Not because they disagree, but because they’re afraid. Afraid that a potential employer might be watching. Afraid that their friend’s cousin who works in government will be offended. Afraid that speaking up might brand them as troublemakers, effectively locking them out of opportunities they weren’t going to get anyway.
Yes, we have convinced ourselves that silence is golden when, in reality, it is often just leaden weight dragging us down. And in this self-imposed quietude, we miss one crucial truth: playing it safe has never changed the world. Or, to borrow from Nelson Mandela, “May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”
But let’s be honest: most people’s choices reflect their fear of rocking the boat, even when the boat is clearly leaking and heading for a waterfall.
Basotho are not alone in this, of course. The world has always had a love-hate relationship with mavericks, the ones who dare to disrupt, question, and challenge the norm. But every society needs them. Because without them, progress is just a myth we tell ourselves before going to bed in the same stagnant conditions we woke up in.
The irony is that this excessive caution often leads nowhere. The silent onlookers, the ones who meticulously avoid stepping on toes, often live their entire lives without receiving the very opportunities they sacrificed their voices for. And then what? They become old, still cautious, still waiting, still blending into the wallpaper of life.
As Basotho, we have a choice. We can continue to move like water, taking the shape of whatever container society pours us into. Or we can embrace the discomfort of speaking out, of standing firm, of refusing to accept mediocrity simply because it’s easier to blend in than to push back.
There is a powerful Sesotho saying: ho shoa le mantsoe joalo ka noha; “to die with words like a snake.” Imagine the agony of carrying unspoken truths to the grave. A snake has no voice, so it dies with its words. But as human beings, blessed with the power of speech, why would we choose such a fate? Why silence ourselves when we have the ability to speak, to challenge, to shape the world with our voices?
Another Sesotho idiom warns: lefu la noha ke ho tsamaea e le ngoe; “the fate of a snake is its habit of always walking alone.” This is a lesson in unity. Even if we do speak, it cannot be the voice of one or a scattered few. It must be a chorus, a groundswell of voices refusing to be ignored. Not everyone will rise, but when enough people do, their voices become impossible to silence.
History does not remember the lone whisper, it remembers the collective roar. No great movement was ever built on the courage of just one person. It was the collective defiance, the shared refusal to remain silent, that tore down oppressive systems, fueled revolutions, and forced progress. The question is not whether you have a voice, it’s whether you will use it before it’s too late.
As they say, “A sheep spends its entire life fearing the wolf, only to be eaten by the shepherd.” So, what’s the point of fear-driven silence? If playing it safe truly led to guaranteed success, then the most fearful, the most compliant, the most invisible among us would be the most successful.
But they aren’t. They’re just the ones with the quietest regrets. So, the mirror is here. Look into it. What you do next? That’s entirely up to you.
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