Opposite Colors

It turns out that while I was touring fairy tale-worthy English gardens yesterday, Mfanelo, one of SAEP's Gap Year Interns, was robbed and stabbed twice in the chest while walking home in the townships.

Fortunately, he is reportedly recovering quickly.

So I'm trying to figure this out. I am living in what Nelson Mandela described as "the rainbow nation." On a color wheel, the exact opposite of the rainbow's colors are considered "compliments" of each other - because side-by-side they both appear brighter. In this case, when you contrast the carefully pruned roses of my Sunday and the violence of Mfanelo's, that is definitely true. But, though they appear brighter in their respective hues when placed adjacent to each other, it is clear that neither world is "complimented" in the classical sense - rather, both seem a bit more wrong. Injustice is still injustice, after all. So maybe a rainbow isn't the most apt way to describe this nation. Or maybe it is exactly the right way. I still haven't figured this out.