Boredom Leads to Great Things 41
and has never had any imaginary friends.^49 If his parents
told him something, Elon always asked “Why?” When his
parents told him the answer, he compared it with what
he already knew. If the answer and his knowledge didn’t
match each other, he asked “Why?” again. And so it went
on until either Elon was happy or his parents gave up.^354
But sometimes he forgot to look up the facts. Elon and
his one-year younger brother Kimbal decided to make a 50
miles [80 km] long bike trip from Pretoria to Johannesburg.
Thinking they could find their way through the country
without any problems, neither of them had a map. They
were wrong. Halfway through the trip, they were lost. This
was at a time when the South African government had
established the apartheid system, so it was not safe for two
white boys to bike through dangerous neighborhoods con-
trolled by enraged people who had been discriminated.^51
The word apartheid is Afrikaans and can be translated
to separateness. European settlers had always suppressed
the natives. In 1910, the Union of South Africa was estab-
lished and the new government made whites the supreme
power. Blacks were forced to live in poor overcrowded
townships.^187
When the National Party took over the power in 1948,
they extended the segregation. The Prohibition of Mixed
Marriages Act of 1949 prevented whites from marrying
someone with another race. No blacks were allowed to
vote or own any property, and they had to carry with
them a special passport. If they didn’t, they were jailed. In
1960, a large crowd of black protesters decided to not show