Sometimes a good thing, an act of kindness, or some other episode crosses your path. It comes along exactly when you need such an act most. A good thing crossed my path on Friday, and it got me when I needed it very, very badly.Friday morning was tough. I got up and on the radio was news that a friend's brother had been murdered. For a watch. A watch. Another friend was lying in hospital, his arm hacked during a robbery at his home.The night before, stage2 electricity cuts had been in effect. The repo rate went up by 25 basis points on Thursday.The week hadn't been so good, either. The scandalous Nkandla spending was back in the news. And we had watched with shame and horror as grown men and women of the once proud, once beautiful, once moral ANC contorted themselves and frothed at the mouth to defend President Jacob Zuma from paying back the money he owes to all of us for the R246-million Nkandla monstrosity.So on Friday I dragged myself out of bed and drove to Sandton. The roads were gridlocked. People were late. Tempers were short. Anger and frustration were in the air.A friend, Jos Kuper, had asked me to attend a function and conduct an interview with Public Protector Thuli Madonsela. The breakfast event was organised by the Moshal scholarship programme, which helps students from disadvantaged backgrounds to obtain "high-quality, sought-after degrees that lead to successful careers".It says it aims to develop "soft skills, values and attributes in our Moshal scholars that support their evolution into resilient, responsible and respected people in their lives and workplaces".When I was first asked to go along I just ticked it in my box as one of those things I do to fill my year's quota of good deeds. I was wrong and I was deeply unthinking by doing this.Because here is the thing: one child with an education in this society is a powerful wave whose impact will resonate beyond measure. This is something one must not forget or take for granted. Education is the key to solving our intractable problems, and Friday once again underlined this for me.Before my interview with Madonsela one of the Moshal scholars, a young woman called Qaqamba Maxamba, stood and spoke about how, as a child living with her mother and brother in a shack, she had dreamt of changing the reality of their life. She dreamt of buying her mother a bed. Today she holds a degree in mathematics."Somewhere in the world is a child who needs to dream and why can't I be the one to inspire them?" she said.She certainly inspired me. Listening to her, I had tears in my eyes. She was followed by another student, Sanelisiwe Sibiya, who is studying law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She, too, a child who never met her father, had an inspiring story.There were many in the room like them. I had friends in that room, too, and it came to me that most of us - black, poor and from the back of beyond - had been lifted out of poverty by education and scholarships. We are not special. We got a chance.In these challenging times a lot of people ask: "How can I help make my country a better place?"I am most inspired by education, by those who, like the founder of Moshal, Martin Moshal, and the many companies that help it by taking on its graduates, among other things, find a way to intervene in this most crucial of areas.One never knows what these young people will go on to do. Some will go into business. Some will go into government and do what needs to be done. Others will become entrepreneurs. To me it doesn't really matter.Listening to the two young women on Friday made me realise that their impact on our country over the next 20 years will be immense. It will start with the fact that one young person in their neighbourhood will be inspired by their example. That's a wave. Then they will inspire someone else in some other place, as they inspired me and others on Friday. Then they will just continue, their waves growing and travelling further and further on.Our society needs positive action today. Education is the first step to that positive action. My prayer for this country is that those of us who are fortunate - in small and big ways - should emulate the work of institutions like the Moshal scholarship programme by putting a bit of our money, our time and our efforts into improving education. It is the best investment we can make in our country...