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The Ground Beneath Our Feet

The Ground Beneath Our Feet

Author: Jo Rushby
Date: 2022-05-26

Where soil is, (wo)men grow, whether to weeds or flowers (Keats) Straight after the floods of last month, the media was filled with stories that Durban's promenade would get a new structure, an eye in the sky. The announcement, made at the recent Tourism Indaba, the Eye is set to rival that of London. Not too long ago, we were regaled with the announcement that the area near Blue Lagoon will see the coming of another high-rise structure.

My father always preached that one has to lay a solid foundation. And to lay a solid foundation, one has to listen to the earth. But some architects have long got canied away with what the eye can behold, rather than what the soil can hold. Skyscrapers are what we are after.

Walking the streets of London in April this year, everywhere there are huge monstrosities of glass; all screeching 'mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the ugliest of them all.' They loom over ancient 14th century buildings like aliens. Is it a wonder that the pyramids still stand but modem buildings collapse at the mere hint of a touch?

The Egyptians dug deep, laying strong foundations, and thinking horiz.ontally rather than vertically. But the recent floods have sobered our idea that we are masters of the universe, reclaiming land from the sea, lagoons and marshes. These natural creations fight back, often wreaking terrible revenge on those who thought they had stamped them into oblivion.

We need to take cognisance of the ground beneath our feet. The ground below our feet is not like the stage in a play. It can be unstable, (op)pressing it, can cause sinkholes, and suddenly a building is like a puppet falling over. It is not a coincidence that Alice falls downwards to discover a Wonderland. But we can only think about bigger, higher, flashier as progress.

The soil though is rebelling. Asking, begging us to look downwards, into Mother Earth, into the foundations that give us life.

Economists continue to preach about equilibrium and stability. But what is the purpose of these artificial constructs when there is an underground revolution happening and we live on shaky ground. As the Greek philosopher Xenophanes reminds us 'For all things come from earth, and all things end by becoming earth'.


by Jo Rushby from lkes Books and Collectables