Ethiopians:Do we need to do soul-searching?
Who says Ethiopians have trouble criticizig themselves?
A reader who says her/his pen-name is Veritas has the following challenge for those of us ,’who are not in a perpetual state of self-deception’.
She or he is calling for a serious soul-searching.
‘After reading some of the thoughts based on Kumlachew’s piece I could not stop thinking about what we, Ethiopians, can do about the form of life, which one can easily say is a graphic and vivid portrait of tragedy of life writ large, and why we’ve embodied such a form of life for such a long period of human history.
By referring to a tragic form of life in Ethiopia and its long history, I’m not referring to something specifically political and I’m not saying that Ethiopia has undergone and embodied perpetual poverty, all other kinds of undesirable forms of human life, due only to its political history. I’m not denying that political leadership and such similar institutions contribute to some undesirable things that we Ethiopians undergo as a society. That is undeniable. But then if we keep thinking that only the government is to blame for all forms of suffering that we’ve experienced and are experiencing, I think, that way of trying to understand our own problems for what they are is wrong-headed, in some sense.
Take for example, such widely distributed, manifested, character traits among many, many Ethiopians, this is going to cause a chaos among some who want to deny the truth (!): why are so many–“many” never means all, or even most, mind you–Ethiopians characteristically untruthful; dishonest; suspicious of another fellow human being; arrogant in the sense of being unwilling to admit that they’ve made mistakes, and admit that they do not know certain things; jealous; and also want to take advantage of others’ innocence, etc, etc. These are characteristically unhealthy, undesirable things for any human society and they part and parcel of all other societies, of course. But please do not respond by saying that we’re not different, these are problems one can find everywhere etc. This way of answering simply confirms one or the other of the traits that I listed above and please be careful not to just confirm what I’ve already shared to reflect on with fellow Ethiopians. Please do not seek easy answers that only explain away the problems for in those answers we only show how much little we care to think deeper, or more carefully, and being honest and truthful about these very questions. Please let’s face it [them] and try to understand why we’re such a society and widely suffer from such vices of character.
I want to hear from fellow Ethiopians who’re not in a perpetual state of self-deception in trying to explain away a call for some rational and deeper understanding of our society’s problems as I’ve tried to share a tip of the iceberg which we can extend and expand and contemplate together to see if we can make sense of our own identity, and our own destiny as we keep being reflective on what makes us who we’re. My hope is that some will share insights from all kinds of sources such as literature by fellow Ethiopians who address some of the above questions that unfortunately define us a society.
I look forward to reading some reflections by Kumlachew and other fellow Ethiopians who’ve a much better knowledge, who know much more than I about the Ethiopian literature, art, and such sources that can help us reflect on ourselves. I’ll be happy to share my own thoughts as I continue to interact, hopefully, with those who’re courageous, honest, truthful, and open enough to face the above predicaments about our society, about us in these dark days as there have been many such in our history.’
Is this just a bravado that we shoudn’t take heed to or a bitter truth that we shouldn’t try to run away from?
Do you agree with what Veritas is saying? Do we need to do soul-searching?
You could join the conversation here.
March 12, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Sure, we need to do soul-searching,who wouldn’t?
The only thing is to be careful not to speak like all-knowing God.When one says Ethiopians are like this or that…
Does that mean that he knows closely at least three or more societies to help him arrive at such conclusions.
Or do we simply think such lofty rhetoric make us look like we are intellectual or something?
How about if he is simply just spiting the biases and lies he has been reading from those racist books (most) by the white travellers.(I stopped reading them long ago).
There was this American who wrote the book , a novel Kulubi ,
some twent or thiry years before.It is a huge book and the guy wrote the book to insult Ethiopians.(If he hated us,I don’t know he bothered to wrtie all that)
One thing he was saying was Ethiopians are sucspicious.He keeps saying it as if he was the first person who discovered that.
That guy is stiil alive and recently wrtoe another book to confess he was a CIA spy in Ethiopia.
So how could the people who were suspicous of him could be faulted for that?
Weren’t they wrtight?
If you want to know more about him, you might check at Google.
I think his name was Edmund Murray.
No matter how earnestly intended ,I think we should suspcet(Being my nature) such cliches.
March 12, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Selam Seife:
Many thanks for your contribution and for your wise counsel. Just a short response to some of your suggestions:
1) This writer, Veritas, perhaps, has never read or reads at present the category of works that you mentioned by non-Ethiopians on Ethiopians. No need to worry about being duped by others’ bias. Even if I read writings such as the ones you mention I can tell truth from lies and would not just believe everything that I read. This is not self-defense by the way. It’s rather showing the implication of your suggestion and telling the truth.
2) You ask, “Or do we simply think such lofty rhetoric make us look like we are intellectual or something?”. I do not think we need solutions to the problems that I shared about us Ethiopians, in the sense I qualified when I refer to Ethiopians, consists in any rhetoric lofty or otherwise. I’m not sure what you mean by a desire to look like intellectual, either. The issue being discussed is about honesty, truthfulness, humility etc or lack thereof, and I’ll be the last person to perpetuate the vices while seeking deeper soul-searching examinations for many of us Ethiopians in order to be able to come up the best solutions for our problems. This discussion, I hope, will not be an opportunity to take refuge in intellectual rhetoric and lofty talks. It’s also a good thing to distinguish between these two, too: To want to look like an intellectual while being not an intellectual is a vice I’m calling upon all of us to face head on and deal with such a vice of arrogance in the sense I shared, and dishonesty, and self-deception. But then, to be actually an intellectual and to do a job proper for an intellectual is being oneself and a desirable thing. I hope Seife has noted these implications about what he said above.
3) I’ve already responded to whether we need to compare the Ethiopian society in order to be able to face our own problems head on. Why avoid facing our own problems? I appealed to fellow Ethiopians. I hope that you’ve read that part before posting your suggestions to which I’m grateful though. Let’s assume for the sake of the argument that we’re the only group of people on planet earth who suffer from the character traits, the vices that many of us suffer. If such a scenario were true, do we still need to compare ourselves with another (in the scenario given, non-existing) society in order to seek solutions for our problems? I hope the answer is obvious. Why turn to others while the problems are ours, even if they as much shared with others? Let’s face them and deal with them. Shall we stop seeking a way of attributing our own problems to others, please? What is the point of saying we’re not an exception, as the first response, to deal with our problems unless that is seeking a way of avoiding an opportunity to take responsibility for our own weaknesses, problems, vices? Isn’t this the vice that is at the heart of what I want us all to reflect on? Please, fellow Ethiopians, let’s be a bit more careful in the way we think and say and share our thoughts with others.
Many thanks once again, Seife, and my hope is that you’ll continue to contribute your thoughts on our need for doing some soul-searching with which you agree. I promise to do both and am already trying to do both of them, too.
Cheers,
Veritas
March 12, 2007 at 1:51 pm
P.S.
Trying hard to remember if I’ve ever read the kind of book on Ethiopians by non-Ethiopians, the only thing I could remeber having read, even perhaps part of it, is, the book by Danald Levine, Wax and Gold, which was an assigned reading for an undergraduate course I did about 14 years ago. Wax and Gold cannot be categorized or described by any standard like the books Seife mentions any ways. Did even reading, that long ago, perphas part of the book that I mentioned, influence me to think the way I do now? Absolutely not.
Do we, Ethiopians, need for someone to tell us who we’re deep-down? I suggest the vices that run rampant in our society that I’m trying to do soul-searching with fellow Ethiopians cannot be missed being observed on daily basis by any reflective person, Ethiopian or otherwise. I hope that they’ve not escaped Seife’s reflevtive moments too.
Cheers,
Veritas
March 12, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Hi Again:
Seife, I did not have enough time to respond to your thought-provoking suggestions adequately though I’ve tried to do some, given the time I had at my disposal. This is just to say a bit more:
You write speaking of the American writer, “So how could the people who were suspicious of him could be faulted for that?” I just wanted to be clear about one thing here, as well: My thoughts about us, Ethiopians, are not triggered by what non-Ethiopians say about us by any means. I’m only trying to focus on our own problems by us, without blaming any other people, individuals, societies; at least, at this initial stage of the soul-searching I want us all to do, if we’re deeply convinced something has gone wrong about us. Otherwise, it’s a good thing if someone out there shows us that nothing or not much has gone wrong with us; that is to say, we’re fine, but that I hope would be done by providing good arguments for such a conclusion so that some of us who think otherwise should take our lessons.
I’m not claiming that we as a society can’t be influenced by any other society. Almost all the problems that I want us to focus on and face them head on have been with us for a long time when there was virtually little or no external influence on us as a society.
Now let me hear what others think and want to share. I’m only trying to clarify issues so that we do not, unnecessarily, spend our precious times by trying to find ways to avoid facing our own problems head on– for that is the beginning of a healing process for an individual or a community or a society that engages in deep and sustained soul-searching, which is the theme of our discussion.
Cheers,
Veritas
March 13, 2007 at 7:45 am
Many Ethiopians today might consider it unpatriotic for their fellow citizens to publicly criticize themselves.
To see problems in Ethiopia that are serious enough to cause her harm and do nothing is almost seditious, if the definition of sedition could be stretched for these purposes to include intentional inactivity in the face of an impending threat to the country.
Many Ethiopians feel in their hearts that something is not quite right with their country. They see a wide variety of problems that are not being addressed properly by the government and wonder if something is fundamentally wrong with the country itself. Much has been made of the government’s inability or lack of desire to deal effectively with an extremely volatile economy,the grinding poverty,denial of fundamental rights (Though there is a lot of talk of it to cover its absense),overpoulation,the growing disparity between the haves and the have-nots, the lack of good new jobs being created, lack of justice, wages that haven’t grown for decades, our declining schools, exploding health care costs,many other problems.
If you ask a variety of Ethiopians what is wrong, they will identify several different symptoms, which at first appear to be the result of completely different problems. Upon further review, however, one can argue that these varying signs of decay are the result of one overriding issue—the absense and demise of democracy. Such a statement is very bold indeed, because such symptoms of a sick society are very far-reaching and affect Ethiopians at home with their families, at work.
Comparison with Western countires might not be uncalled for here but our neighbour Kenya fares much better in accomodating political disssidents than us.
This could be observed by brutality of the state police in last years’e violence is unequlled from seen anywhere in the world.
Hence that is the area that we should focus on.
March 13, 2007 at 8:19 am
Seife
Any mention of racism is a transparent attempt to close down an argument certain sections of the society don’t feel comfortable with. Its not very edifying.
March 13, 2007 at 8:31 am
You see I look at it this way:
I’m not racist; I am just aware of the existance of a long held notion of looking at things from the rational West and the irrational East, which had been perpetuated by those travel wtriters that I made mention of.
In some cases,you don’t have to go to the places(If you are from England or France),sit down somehere write a book about the country, pretending to have a close kowlege of the country and give your book the title
Ethiopia from within
Actually, what he writes what he had already read or heared about the country.
March 13, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Hi Rediet:
Thanks a lot for your really important points. I’ll try to properly engage your great thoughts as soon as I get enough time to do so. Many thanks for your insightful thoughts again.
Cheers,
Veritas
March 13, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Hi Seife:
I hope that you’d continue to contribute to the real issues we’re discussing. Many thanks for coming back again.
I wonder what you wanted to communicate with these terms, “the rational West and the irrational East”. Doesn’t that sound judgemental without showing why these people you refer to are such and such, which was not even needed at this stage of our discussion to address our own issues by oursleves.
Wouldn’t such a description of other races rather confirm Rediet’s worry if you are attempting “to close down an argument.”
Also, have you noticed what you went on to do after denying that you’re a racist? You blamed others in relation to Ethiopians, which, attributing blame to others, I identified as one typical vice among many Ethiopians and wanted us to deal with it. I hope that you see what I’m trying to say.
Again, is there any implication–in your mind– for Ethiopians you want us to draw from what you say about the West and the East in terms of rationality and irrationality? Are we neither rational nor irrational since we’re neither in the West nor in the East?
Also a minor question: You say, “In some cases,you don’t have to go to the places…sit down somewhere write a book… Actually what he writes what he…”.
My question might seem trivial but it’s this, who does the “he” refer to in your last sentence? Did you mean to refer to the “you” earlier in the previous sentence? Many confusions could be avoided if your reference was clear. My charitable take is that you’re referring to the imaginary person you referred to with the “you” in the previous sentence.
Otherwise, I look forward to engaging you and hopefully many others on these issues for our soul-searching.
Cheers,
Veritas
March 13, 2007 at 8:19 pm
Hi Rediet:
I’m back to properly respond to your very thoughtful comments and suggestions below. Thanks a lot for them again.
1)There is a sense that I could agree with you when you say, “Many Ethiopians today might consider it unpatriotic for their fellow citizens to publicly criticize themselves”. Having shared your concern I do not see how else we should engage ourselves in such a way that the public should NOT be aware of such soul-searching by us and I don’t see why we should be afraid of our image as a society since, if we do this soul-searching publically we’re only being truthfulness and transparent and such virtues or rather their lack in our society is that that has caused this writer to be concerned with a desire to share this concern with fellow Ethiopians in the first place.
2)Perhaps your concern is about the TIMING of such discussion and public soul-searching since I do not see from what you shared with us that you’re trying to protect the problems that I brought up for us to discuss and debate about with some sense of pretension that would allow as to claim as if these vices do not exist. I can’t think of such an idea could be directly inferred from the thoughts that you shared with us. I can only see sincere concerns on your part. Again, if the timing is your concern, now another problem arises and that is this: when should be the proper time for us to engage in such soul-searching? You’d not say I hope that when we become better off as a society having left most of our problems behind, esp., the prevalent problems in Ethiopia today that you mentioned in your comments such as poverty, lack of democracy, etc.
3)If there is such a reasoning (under 2) behind your suggestion, my response would be: the personal/societal character issues are part of the most fundamental problems that ought to be dealt with, without setting them aside at any time since there will not be a time at which we’ll be a virtuous society WITHOUT consciously choosing the way to be virtuous and there is no other way to be a virtuous person or community or society WITHOUT making virtues HABITS of our daily existence, both individually and collectively . It’d be a good thing to hear if there is another way to becoming a virtuous person or society other than what I suggested here fir I can’t see any. I want to hear about that and that will answer the question of the timing of this particular discussion.
4)Rediet, I do not think I need to say much more about your comment, this one: “To see problems in Ethiopia that are serious enough to cause her harm and do nothing is almost seditious, if the definition of sedition could be stretched for these purposes to include intentional inactivity in the face of an impending threat to the country.”. My response above about the timing partly is meant to address why we should be spending part of our time and energy searching for possible, actual, and most reasonable causes/explanations for our societal problems and doing these things is a very serious activity, as far as I can see, and I can’t see how that would be seditious, stretching or without stretching the definition of the term. Besides, this activity is among those intensely intentional activities for almost all meaningful activities involve thinking deeply, ideally speaking, and we’re just trying to just do deeper thinking and reflections in order to figure out where we’ve gone wrong as a society, and individually. In order to counteract bad governance, and bad thinking that leads to bad consequences of bad governance, I do believe that we need to be much better, deeper, and more careful thinkers who know what kinds of idea leads where, be it in governance or individual lives that we got to live well, if we desire to live such a life well. I hope that we’ve such a desire to flourish individually and as a society.
5)Finally, to reiterate some of my points: I see the reason why you shared your concern about being more active to do something about the multiple problems Ethiopia as a nation is undergoing and I suggested that this soul-searching is among the most foundational things we should also be doing, without pausing to do other goods that could go to any length to help us deal with our many problems. By being more careful and more reflective people we would not lose anything that is desirable; rather, by being more careful thinkers and by being more reflective people we’d be adding so much good to a society that lacks in so many things that are essential for any human flourishing.
Look forward to reading your thoughtful comments and suggestions, when you share with us again.
Cheers,
Veritas
P.S. I’ve so, so many important and time consuming things to do for my personal life at the moment, as almost always, but then I chose to share my deeply ingrained concerns about our society at the moment when I could have kept all these to myself or do nothing about them, even choosing not to think about them. Alle these are options live and open to me but I chose otherwise in oder to invest some of my precious time, which is always scarce, in sharing what I’m trying to share now and to wrestle about such deeper issues about us with fellow and like-minded Ethiopians. I do hope some more fellow Ethiopians want to take some moments to take stock about our deeper problems as seriously as such problems deserve to be taken so seriosuly.
March 13, 2007 at 10:14 pm
PP.S.
For those of you for whom typos cause some distress, here are some corrections from my own post, which has some:
1) Under (1): “…being truthfulness…” should be read as “…being truthful…”
2) Under P.S. “Alle these are options…” be read as “All these…” and in the same sentence, “…I chose otherwise in oder…” be read as “….I chose otherwise in order…”
Hope the above are the only typos and sorry for causing some distress to some of you.
Veritas
March 14, 2007 at 12:52 am
Seife,
I feel you, men! Don’t dismiss totally what outsiders wrote about Ethiopians, though. Approximately 16 yrs. ago, I was browsing Ethiopian issue books in the library (I don’t quite remember the book title), but I read the very first paragraph of the first page it reads very similar like this “Ethiopian society is very sherwd and their religion is pagan”. I said to myself who’s this guy? how dare he writes about us like this…At the moment, i was shocked, mad and i lost interest to read it further and to find out what’s all about. Later on, i thought about what i read in that one sentence the description of our society and it was not far from the truth. I’ve been told by my family members and the ethiopian people i’m associated with how shrewd i am and honestly, what they said about me is not far from the truth. (I don’t believe that my shrewd character contributes negatively to the society, though. Or, do i?) I brought up from conservative Orthodox christian family and i used to think that Orthodox is the one and only religion representing Ethiopian society. But, to come to think of it, even from orthodox christian, there’s plenty people who belives in church and at the same time they believe and practice a pagan like religion (e.g Tenkola, Chele, Adbar …”. (Please, don’t quote on this, i’m not trying to say we’re pagan or orthodox is the only religion). So, when you think about it, for a writer it would be a very difficult task to distingush our religion and character.
March 14, 2007 at 2:44 am
Hi Tazabi:
Welcome back! Thank you for your contribution again. You deserve a commendation for sharing with us your honest thoughts about yourself and for discouraging us from unduly dismissing some writings on Ethiopia when the writer happens to be a non-Ethiopian.
Yes, most of the writings on Ethiopia that we’ve, if I’m correct, have been done by non-Ethiopians and that has happened for various reasons and without such writings there would have been much less written material on Ethiopia if we’re confined to reading writings by Ethiopians alone. Mentioning of writings by Ethiopian writers, have we, fellow Ethiopians, realized this one more truth about us and writing? Most of us, this very much includes me as well –time to confess– have the tendency of avoiding writing as much as possible, on whatever subject matter it is. I’m not saying that we intentionally avoid writing as such. As I think, since we all come from a predominantly ORAL CULTURE, we have a much more active tendency to talk than to write. Imagine how many countless hours many of us spend talking, about everything or nothing! Don’t compare us yet with others please, but then let’s admit how much time many of us, who can read and write, spend reading and writing and how much talking! If my memory is to be trusted, Donald Levine has said something about this perhaps in his most famous book, Wax and Gold. Please correct me about this, any one out there, for I’m not entirely positive about this. I could well be wrong.
It’s only lately that Ethiopians are changing the long-standing tendency from writing less to being more active in writing. [By the way, confession again, I do some writings in my field of study but have resisted publishing them or other things close to them for various reasons for many years now! My second weakness confessed]. Please don’t respond by saying, aren’t we among the oldest civilizations with our own scripts, etc, etc? Granted. I’m talking about us, the current generation and its immediate one or two. I’m particularly talking about those educated Ethiopians who’ve had many opportunities to produce lots of writings but have failed. Yes, I personally have failed miserably in this regard and am perhaps trying to redress my failure by doing some writing one of these days as much as possible. I’m trying to understand myself, my people, and my culture a little bit better as I’m wrestling in public with you all.
At any rate, back to our subject, about non-Ethiopian writers on Ethiopia: We know all the limitations of a non-Ethiopian writing on Ethiopia and it’s a good attitude, I think, that Tazabi shared with us when he/she said, “So, when you think about it [about our complex culture and religion] for a writer it would be a very difficult task to distinguish our religion and character.” I add, therefore, let’s be open-minded and gracious to non-Ethiopian writers without being gullible, credulous, that is just without believing whatever is written and said about us at the same without also dismissing everything written about us, either.
One thing and am done for now: Let’s ask ourselves this question: who says that because a writer is an Ethiopian therefore his/her writings are free from errors, misrepresentations, and such? We all have many limitations and reading writings by only Ethiopians would never guard us from making mistakes about us as I hope all of us can see. The issue is about us all being humans and hence finite and hence fallible. I’m, and we all are. Let’s therefore be open-minded, once again, to learn as much as possible from as many angles as we have accesses to sources. I hope that Seife was not being excessively dismissive of anything written by non-Ethiopians.
Many thanks Tazabi.
Cheers,
Veritas
March 14, 2007 at 4:43 am
Hi Again:
Since reading Seife’s comments about “the rational West and the irrational East” and since my raising a question for him if we, Ethiopians belong to either or neither, I could not stop wondering what other fellow Ethiopians think about the question.
Seife, what sounded like a passing remark by you has provoked me to think about us, Ethiopians, and whether there is some such category as being rational or irrational that can capture us as well, whatever those terms actually mean for the moment, and for sharing such thought provoking things you deserve thanks.
As I look forward to your own contribution, Seife, I also would like to hear what other fellow Ethiopians think about this very issue of the question of rationality/irrationality and the Ethiopian society.
To be honest, the question of rationality, knowledge, and the nature of truth are among the core issues that I study but none of these from an Ethiopian perspective yet. I just remembered a book, which I was looking forward to seeing come out that I’ve not yet read but soon will, by the philosopher Teodros Kiros on Zara Yacob, the Ethiopian philosopher, titled: Zara Yacob: Rationality of the Human Heart (Red Sea Press, Inc. 2005). Here we go (!) with a partial answer to Seife’s provocative thought whether Ethiopians are rational or not.
Here is the book description and about the author, from Amazon.com’s page:
Book Description:
”Through a rare autobiographical act, Zara Yacob, who acquainted himself with the teachings of the Catholic Church introduced by Portuguese Jesuit missions in Sixteenth-century Ethiopia, becomes the first self-conscious founder of a philosophical tradition in Ethiopia. Indeed, it is a mild exaggeration to assert that it is Zara Yacob who gave the continent of Africa an original autobiography, something that was at that time confined to literate traditions outside of Africa. His treatise is a masterful example of self-presentation, clearly and powerfully expressed in a captivating literary style.”
Author
”Teodros Kiros teaches at Brown University and is a fellow at the W. E. B. DuBois Institute at Harvard University. He is a writer and journalist. He received his B.A. at University of Wisconsin and his Ph.D. in Political Philosophy at Kent State University. He is author of the books, Toward the Construction of a Theory of Political Action in Africa, Moral Philosophy and Development: The Human Condition of Africa, The Promise of Multiculturalism, Self-Construction and the Formation of Human Values (Winner, 1999 Michael Harrington Book Award for an outstanding book that contributes to human progress), and also Explorations in African Political Thought. His forthcoming books include a novel titled Cambridge Days and a collection of short stories and essays. He is also a columnist at The Somerville Journal and editor and writer-at-large for The Ethiopian Reporter.”
Many thanks Seife,
Cheers,
Veritas
March 14, 2007 at 6:00 am
Thanks all for the response.
Sorry,I am kind of busy right now.I’ll try to drop a line some tomorrow.
March 14, 2007 at 7:09 am
Hi Rediet:
Thank you for being so considerate enough to stop by and drop us a line to let us know that we’ll hear from you tomorrow.
I’ve been looking forward to sharing with fellow Ethiopians my personal reflections on what’s gone wrong with us as a society, for a long, long time–perhaps, for more than 15 years– and that time seems to have come now, I’m hoping that it’s, when I’ll be able to learn from fellow Ethiopians and share my own limited reflections for what they’re worth. I’ll do that as we continue our conversation which is going great so far.
I want to say thank you Arefaynie Fantahun for providing this forum for all of us to share our thoughts and also I want to say thank you for those who’ve been participating in the conversation. Thank you for helping me think about things that I might not be thinking or would not be thinking otherwise, at least, sooner. Thank you Yaya, Tazabi, Seife, and Rediet.
After posting the previous thoughts on Teodros Kiros’ book, I ordered a copy of the book and when I get time to read it (that won’t be before this coming summer) I’ll do a review of it to share with my audience here. I’d not have thought of doing that this soon without this opportunity, and esp., Seife’s remark about rationality/irrationality that reminded me of the book, which I was planning to read but which was not included as part of my reading list. Seife thank you once again for being a cause in triggering some questions in me though without intending so.
Lately, I was working on a paper that attempts to work out relationships between BELIEFS, THOUGHTS AND RATIONAL ACTIONS and one of the Laws of Association about thoughts says: “The More recently two thoughts have occurred together, or the more frequently, the more strongly they will be associated”. My thought about Teodros’ book got associated with Seife’s mention of rationality/irrationality about which I kept thinking since reading Seife’s comments and this law says that the more strongly such thoughts will be associated. So much for my paper. I was only illustrating how one thought triggered another and how such thoughts led me into ordering a book that I was not thinking about in such terms and how I decided to do a review to share with you all.
By the way, I’ve informed Prof. Donald Levine to share some thoughts on what we’re discussing here since he’s a great scholar who’s spent more than 40 years thinking and writing about what we’re just beginning to share with one another. My hope is that he’ll find some time to share something by way of counsel or advice.
Many thanks to you all,
Cheers,
Veritas
March 14, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Veritas,Big thanks for initiating this discussion that has full of nuggets of useful and insightful information.
I am writing to say to add more on what Seife said. The habit of thinking in terms of stereotypes is a bad business. We are supposed to be conscious of these problems to be aware of stereotypes and what they can do to people’s mind.
The mass media are still full of stereotypes, labels and clichés that misled more than they inform. We talk about ’Habesha’ as if they were scientifically delineated species of mankind. We still discourse the people in Diaspora or at home as if, like bottles of milk, they are homogeneous entities.
We still hang on our politicians empty labels such as ‘Tebab’,’Gotegna’, ‘Teletafi’ as if we had some clear idea of what information these labels are intended to convey.Right?
We can do better than that.We can use language with more precision.
March 14, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Hi Yaya and All:
Thanks a lot for your note once again. Your contributions are valuable and please continue to share your thoughts whenever possible. I’m also learning a lot from what we’re trying to discuss.
Good that you mentioned the value of being PRECISE when we share our ideas with others. We can be protected from many misrepresentations or distortions, stereotypes by the media and as such if we make it a habit for ourselves to be more careful and precise and clear about what we communicate.
In order for us all to be focused on the theme of the present discussion, to be more fruitful, I just wanted to share with all of us the following conversational maxims by the British philosopher of language, the late Paul Grice. They are called Gricean maxims or conversational maxims and they are the following [though these are intended to be guidelines or principles helpful for conversations, I’m suggesting that they could still serve as well IF we are guided by them taking our discussions as extended conversations]:
Maxim of Quality: Truth
•Do not say what you believe to be false.
•Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.
Maxim of Quantity: Information
•Make your contribution as informative as is required for the current purposes of the exchange.
•Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.
Maxim of Relation: Relevance
•Be relevant.
Maxim of Manner: Clarity
•Avoid obscurity of expression.
•Avoid ambiguity.
•Be brief (”avoid unnecessary prolixity”).
•Be orderly.
The above are abbreviated versions that one can find in multiple places for these maxims have been discussed in the world of philosophy since the 1960’s. I’m suggesting these maxims to serve us as our principles, too; my intention is not to debate whether they can serve us well. I do not want us to focus on them while my intention is for them to help us focus on the theme of our discussion, which is the character traits, the vices, to be specific, among fellow Ethiopians that caused concern for me that I shared with you all to discuss and learn from one another, the lessons we can draw from our personal and collective reflections.
Many thanks again for joining this conversation.
Cheers,
Veritas
March 15, 2007 at 2:51 am
Veritas,
Wait a minute here! Do we have ethiopian philosopher? My question might raise another question, but i thought there’s no African philosopher yet. Humm…what does it take to be a philospher? Is race, colour has a role when we claim a person as a philosopher? I’m familiar with Zara Yacob works and just to be fair i would say he’s ethiopian version philosopher (because of my suspecious nature :-), i do question what it said about him. Sorry for being off the track here. By the way i’ve not read from the above bloggers comments, about your original points in discussion. I guess, we all going around the bush to hush,hush it. Or, are we conducting the behaviour what’s already in point discussion? (of course unintentionally
March 15, 2007 at 5:09 am
Hi Tazabi:
Thank you for you questions about whether there are Ethiopian and also African philosophers. I need to be brief about this in order to get back to the theme of our discussion though answering some of your questions might be an answer to some questions that might be raised later on as well and hence the following note:
Yes, there are African philosophers and Ethiopia is said to be the only African country where there is a written philosophy. Prof. Teodros’ book, on Zara Yacob is to show that point among other things, I think. It’s possible that Prof. Teodros might stop by to share something with us about what we’re discussing here as well.
You ask, “What does it take to be a philosopher? Is race, colour has a role when we claim a person as a philosopher?” Short answer to these interesting questions: To the second question first: race and color do not have anything to do with being a philosopher. It takes to be human, period. But that raises another question as to what philosophy is. I do not want to talk about that now though I’ve a long standing interest in this question and have something to say about it. Not now. Remember the maxim of relevance above? I do not want to violate that. To the first question: for one to be a philosopher, I think, besides being human, it’d a good thing if the person is intrinsically, genuinely interested in typical and enduring philosophical questions–I do not want to say what they’re now– and be committed to pursuing them in various capacities, as a hobby or professionally, meaning, pursuing philosophical questions as one’s vocation, career full time.
Now I encourage you to read the original post by following the link and that will be really helpful for us all to focus on the theme that I think will be a very timely issue for us to wrestle with personally and collectively. From what I remember from your contributions it seems that you know what we’re talking about. I say, go ahead and share your contribution and let’s keep this conversation alive yet fruitfully.
Many thanks for your questions though I did not answer them in detail. If we make progress with our theme now under discussion and want to share some ideas about what it means to be an African philosopher I’ll be happy to be part of such a conversation too. Prof. Teodros’ book and/or the review of it, will, hopefully, provide a much better answer to your question but that won’t be that soon.
Cheers,
Veritas
March 15, 2007 at 9:07 am
Verita’s descriptions of characters of ‘many, many’ inEthiopia is painfully accurate.Having lived in Ethiopia during my teen years and now in Holland in my 30’s, I have a vantage point that to help me to make a comparison.Many of us (Ethiopians) lead our lives decieving others and ourselves.We prefer to engage ourselves in trivals than in things of importance.
There is no need to complain about what others are saying about us but to try to have a mastery over ourselves.
By the way,it is a nice blog and this discussion make a good reading.
March 15, 2007 at 10:54 am
Kedir,
You’ve made a good attempt at polemic, but why don’t you attempt to back up those claims with some of dem wee facts?
March 15, 2007 at 1:34 pm
I don’t mean to put all the blames on politians but the state of the nation is in such way that, one can’t avoid the problems mentioned while discussiong national characters.
Vertias, I am impresed by your analysis.Please accept my admiration.
March 15, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Rediet:
Thank you so much, Rediet, for being so kind and also for your kind words about what I’m trying to share with you, fellow Ethiopians.
I’ll be back soon, when I get some time. No time right now to respond to others as well.
Many thanks and my heart is full of gratitude to the good feed back that I’ve been receiving. All of you please accept my gratitude and let’s continue to share our deepest reflections with one another.
Cheers,
Veritas
March 15, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Hello All:
Now after reading the last few posts, I just wanted to raise the following questions for us, once again, to focus on the theme of our discussion:
1)Now we seem to have made some progress in starting to see the point that if we continue to blame others, particular individuals or institutions for our societal problems without facing the problems in relation to ourselves, we’re only confirming what’s deeply ingrained in us, that is, attributing all bad things to others, blaming others and hence avoiding taking responsibility for ourselves. This is one step forward. I suggest, once again, that blaming others for bad things is just a deeply ingrained habit for many, many Ethiopians.
2)This way of admitting our personal weaknesses, limitations, or failures, even at the level of society, by no means, means that if and when the government is to blame for some ills in our society that we should ignore such ills. Absolutely not. We hear countless Ethiopians blaming the government and political institutions for all kinds of problems and I do not think that is unqualifiedly right. All the worst government institutions in Ethiopia, in our life times, did not force all those Ethiopians who prefer to tell lies to truth, for example, to become habitual liars. That can’t be right. The political institutions do affect us in so many ways, that is undeniable. But can we honestly say that it’s the government that forces countless people who lie about all kinds of things, from trivial to really important lies? We need to search for true, accurate, and realistic explanations for such rampant habitual vices that govern the lives of many Ethiopians. We need to take stock now. Who’s closely, intimately GOVERNING us individually, as human beings, every waking moments our lives? The political institutions (the government) or OUR OWN characters in this way or that way? I hope that you see the point.
3)I focus on lies, or perversions of truth, or untruthfulness, as a very, very deeply prevalent vice in the Ethiopian society and I’ll eventually ARGUE WHY I single this vice out as a foundational character defect for most of the others. But for now the real question is not: why do people, everywhere, generally, prefer lies to telling truths, when they do? Seeking a general answer to this general question is not an irrelevant way of trying to address our own questions about our own society. That is not raising a wrong question. We can do that at some point. But now: why is it much easier for fellow Ethiopians to prefer to tell lies to telling truth? This is a question that we need to face. Trying to answer THIS question head on helps us realize that we’re no longer seeking some remotely relevant answer to our deeply troubling questions, personally and collectively; we’re rather engaging ourselves, in soul-searching, with questions of vital individual and collective, societal importance.
4)When we share our reflective explanations why it’s easy for some people, some of us, Ethiopians, to prefer to tell lies to truth, it’d be a good idea if we can also suggest how we can stop continuing to live lives of lies and start to live lives of truthfulness, honesty, personal integrity. It’d be a good thing to provide some arguments for what we suggest to be a desirable thing. It’d not be enlightening truth is preferable to lies, period. All of us might agree with that but without really seeing the point why a life of truthfulness is better than lies. I’ll share my reflections as we continue to share ours along the way.
I look forward to hearing from you all,
Cheers,
Veritas
March 15, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Hi KEDIR:
Welcome to this discussion and thanks for stopping by. Thanks for being open and admitting that we’ve a character problem, many of us, Ethiopians. Now I hope that you’ll add your own insights to this ongoing discussion so that we can learn from one another. Will you do that please? [By the way, I’m not a moderator of this discussion nor do I run the blog as you could figure out all these by yourself. I wanted to tell you this-truth- just to say I’m here on this blog to share my concerns, to do some soul-searching with fellow Ethiopians, am only encouraging us to continue to do that to learn from fellow Ethiopians and to share my thoughts for what they are worth.]
Hi JAMA:
Welcome to this discussion and thanks for stopping by. Jama, I was wondering why you said Kedir’s comments were polemical? Will you just shed some light on that, please? Also, it’d be great, as well, if you share your insights about what is being discussed right now.
By the way, I’m not suggesting, by any means, that all of us should agree with the things being addressed here, about the problem of character defects that concerned me about our society and for us individually who constitute the society. It’s good to see good arguments being presented, both for and against, with an intention of seeking after the truth about us and sharing whatever truth we know about us for the betterment of us all.
Hi REDIET:
Yes, I see that you’re not putting all the blames on the politicians. Thanks for your clarification. Now one thing: do we not see that all the character defects, vices, that we are talking about here as being, possible, root causes for multiple problems that politicians contribute to the society in Ethiopia? Would it be wrong to say that some of the most fundamental problems that politicians contribute to the ills of our society are deeply related to their–politicians’– character defects as well?
I think politicians are in the worst shape, partly, because they are the public focus or in the limelight. They might actually lie more frequently, they might be more suspicious, they might be more arrogant, they might be engaged in more deception, dishonest activities, etc. But are we not just trying to figure out why these character defects are so prevalent in the society as well as in the lives of our political leaders? I suggest, once again, that MANY of Ethiopia’s multiple problems could be traced back to some form of character defects under discussion. Such a suggestion might seem simply simplistic and wrong. But then I contend that MANY of our problems could trace their roots back to deeply flawed character problems that have been around with and in us as a society for a long time. Many, fellow Ethiopians, might say, wait a minute, are you saying our being an economically very impoverished/poor society is a direct (indirect (?)) result of our moral and character defects? What about poor governance, poor political leadership, and lack of democratic institutions? I’ve already partly answered this question in the previous paragraphs in the form of a suggestion. I’ll argue for it at some point, if need be.
Cheers,
Veritas
March 15, 2007 at 11:09 pm
Veritas,
I think i’m with Jama. Are you suggesting we all Ethiopians are liars, untruthful? What you just wrote above…”rampant habitual vices that govern the lives of many Ethiopians” is offending me. If you give us specific example i may understand your claim. I’m not a saint, but i always try to be a good citizen in my everyday life. I’m sure millions of us out there we just do that. You said “why is it much easier for fellow Ethiopians to prefer to tell lies to telling truth? I’m not sure how you came up with this conclusion? To tell you the truth, lying never been easy for me. I lied for a long time my smoking habit to my family, friends, and there’s plenty lies i made here and there just to cover my butt and never been easy. But, sometimes i had to do it. There was a time i lied beacuse just not to hurt the other person feeling. I’m a bit confused where you’re coming from, really. Are you targeting a certain class of society, age group, gender,…? Given what we’ve been through and given our recent situations as a society, we’re not bad at all. I don’t think labeling us to such a degree would be unfair for many good ethiopian citizens out there.
March 16, 2007 at 4:20 am
Hello Tazabi:
It’s great to read your post and thanks again for sharing your thoughts honestly. That is very good of you. Now there is nothing wrong in challenging my APPARENTLY sweeping claims which once again sound overgeneralizations of what we’re trying to understand.
Now here is the problem I faced in understanding your concern or question: if you remember, I hope that you do, I’ve already made it clear, repeatedly, what I had and have in mind when I refer to Ethiopians, us, in the context of the present discussion. It’s to your post that I responded twice in a single day, on the 10th of March, about my reference class whenever I refer to Ethiopians. You can re-read my responses then, here:
http://arefe.wordpress.com/2007/03/07/kifle-gebre-egziabher-a-poet-in-the-making/#more-168
Look at the last rather two extended responses that I’ve already made.
You ask, “Are you suggesting we all Ethiopians are liars, untruthful?” BY NO MEANS! If you’ve read the two posts that I’ve reminded you of above in the link, I do not know why you should interpret the following sentence by me in such a way that I mean ALL Ethiopians are liars or untruthful? You quoted me thus: “why is it much easier for fellow Ethiopians to prefer to tell lies to telling truth?” as if I was referring to ALL Ethiopians? Unless I say somewhere else that I refer to ALL Ethiopians in the way you attribute to me, which I’ve not said anywhere, you can’t take me to mean, by the preceding quote, that I’m saying that ALL Ethiopians are liars, and untruthful. That was a logical mistake. “All” and “some” and “many” and “most” do NOT mean the same thing as you know. I’m aware of all these things when I say what I say. I might make simple mistakes at any time, I’m human and fallible, but what you seem to have taken me to say was not a mistake I’ve committed as far as I know, unless you show me to the contrary.
If you think I was being confused when I said, “We need to search for true, accurate, and realistic explanations for such rampant habitual vices that govern the lives of many Ethiopians”, I think you should have shown me by “many” I meant “all” as you attributed to me. You seem to have focused perhaps, on the meaning of rampant to include all. That is not still true. I can’t see what problems you’re raising now.
One important distinction that might be of help for all of us, not to go back to this problem again and again: Let’s have this in mind please. Let’s call the following logically structured way of putting Tazabi’s worries A:
1) All Fs are Gs,
2) a is an F,
3) Therefore, a is a G.
This has the same structure as follows:
1)All Ethiopians are liars,
2)[ x=the speaker] is an Ethiopian,
3)Therefore, [x=the speaker] is a liar.
If I’ve said anything like the above, what I say would give rise to what logicians call a liar’s paradox, which is something like this: Let’s call the following sentence:
B: This very sentence I’m now uttering is false. Well, is B true or false? If it’s true, then what it says is the case, so B is false. If it’s false, then, since this is exactly what it claims, it is true. In either case, B would seem to be both true and false. But it’s difficult to believe that a sentence could be both true and false at the same time. There is a similarity between A and B above. If all Ethiopians are lairs, and if X is an Ethiopian, so, X is also a liar.
Why in the world am I sharing all this? What Tazabi attributes to me above, “Are you suggesting we all Ethiopians are liars, untruthful?” is equivalent to saying that in what I’ve said that I’ve committed a logical mistake something close to A or B above. I see nowhere committing this fallacy and since I’m aware of this problem that I’ve been trying to be careful in what I’m saying and was also encouraging ALL of us to be clear. Remember the Gricean maxims?
I do finally hope that we’d not go back and keep talking about the same issue again and again, by wondering if I’m saying ALL Ethiopians are this or that. Please let’s try to understand all the participants carefully and accurately before attributing anything that they have not said and meant.
Can we move on now and start tackling more than enough problems that I’ve shared with you all?
Cheers,
Veritas
March 16, 2007 at 5:48 am
My head is spinning right now and it’s making zzzzzzzzzzzzzbzbzbz sound. I’m not lying! Of course, there’s a paradox, when i tell you there’s a good and a bad lie. One can say a lie is a lie and no justification for a good lie and i may or may not disagree with this. I guess, what you’re saying is that all good and bad lies with a bunch makes our society goes bad. To some degree, i understood you and well, again i don’t. It’s not a bad approach to find our society problems from philosopical perspective, since political or economical solution is far reaching. For some unkown reasons, i’m kinda worried about you. Hope, you’re alright.
March 16, 2007 at 10:29 am
Hi Tazabi:
Thanks a lot for your honest contributions once again. Would you please clarify what you had in mind when you said the following?
1) There are two kinds of lie, a good one and a bad one? Is that one of the things you say? Please just clarify these for me before I say what I had in mind about lies and truth as we go along.
2) I was not sure what you were trying to commnuicate when you say: “For some unkown reasons, i’m kinda worried about you. Hope, you’re alright.”
I also hope that I’m alright. Are you worried, perhaps, for my trying to be as clear and careful as possible in my attempts to communicate and even use logically structured arguments to show the connection between what I share and their conclusions? I’m a bit worried why you are worried about me too. Would you help me understand your REASONS for being worried about me, if you’ve found some reasons now?
3) For your info, I do not believe that there are two kinds of lie, a good one and a bad one, for that matter, so that just you see my points. I was only saying that if an Ethiopian says/means ALL Ethiopians are liars, there is no point in going ahead for that SAME person to defend some Ethiopians are not liars because SOME (OR, EVEN A SINGLE) ETHIOPIANS ARE ALREADY INCLUDED IN THE SET THAT CONSISTS OF ALL ETHIOPIANS and therefore that person is speaking a contradiction or a paradox that is hard to make sense of. I was trying to communicate that. Usuing ALL needs an extra care in the context of our discussions.
I hope that you shed some light on the above questions.
Cheers,
Veritas
March 16, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Hi Tazabi:
I forgot to include one of my questions in the last post and it was this:
When you say, “It’s not a bad approach to find our society problems from philosopical perspective, since political or economical solution is far reaching”, I thought that you’re assuming or implying that that I’m proposing as a way of identifying our society’s problems that we’re discussing is from a philosophical perspective. I was wondering why you say that it’d be from a “philosophical perspective”.
I’m not saying that trying to identify the problems we’re discussing from a philosophical perspective is a good idea or a bad one. I got curious as to what is philosophical about it. Just curious.
Hope that your clarifications provide a way forward for us to make progress with our discussion. I’ve always appreciated your honest thoughts that you share.
Cheers,
Veritas
March 16, 2007 at 8:53 pm
Hello All:
I’ve found out-earlier today, the 16th, really good thoughts/comments on what’s being discussed here that I do think is worth sharing with all of us here . These comments were posted at the earlier place where this discussion began its life. I asked the person, Daniyot, who posted it to post his comments here for us all and hence the posts below are his and my request for permission and his permission for me to post them here.
Cheers,
Veritas
I have been carefully watching the way this discussion was started and going On ,To be honest I was shocked when I first happen to see the topic,I have made several attempts to scrutinize ,defend and/or accept the the issue by itself.
Candidly speaking ,the first question came to my mind at the very first moment was “is it possible to generalize,” I was sure that the one who put the topic on the air definitely knows what generalization means because I can easily guess that how capable the person is to tell me about the concept of generalization is,it is as easy as ABC to figure out he really look like well educated(this is my assumption),so he has a good reason(s) to stop me if I keep on asking him about generalization,so let me stop here talking about generalization.
Let me go to my point I spent almost half of my age working with people in business,govt. office,farmers,elderlies,politician,ets. I do have a lot of opportunities to see the behaviore,emotion,eggo,so many related or other factors adversely affected the truth from the mind(heart) of my fellow Ethiopians ,on the contrary I have seen a few honest people who stand for the righteousness ,truth and honesty,so is it possible to argue for those statements and say Ethiopians are like this and that?I do not think so
Instead We can say and struggle in order to make our society better,this means,We know that we are poor ,period,when we observe the hidden cousesthe main causes for our poverity,let say our behavior ,our arrogance,and so on,how because it will hinder our development in a many ways ,in short if somebody is lier and ?or arrogant ,communication will be impossible ,If communication is impossible there is no way to walk on the road of development.therefore
there we have to direct ourself to ward fighting those epidemics,insted of saying Ethiopians are these and that
Daniyot Says:
March 16th, 2007 at 6:46 am
Is soul searching possible In ethiopia,I mean are we or our situation is oke to direct our self in soul searching,I am sure it is necessery to work on soul searching ,but my question who is supposed to do that I mean philosophers ,or the farmers from the very extream.or all of us?or is it possible to search the truth(soul) in a place where We Are?
Veritas Says:
March 16th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Hello Daniyot:
Great to read your very carefully thought out comments and many, many thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
Just to let you know : the discussion you’ve just joined us has been going on pretty well on another page in this same blog here:
http://arefe.wordpress.com/2007/03/12/ethiopiansdo-we-need-to-do-soul-searching/
Would you mind posting your two great posts on the link I just provided? The link I just provided is the one you can just click at just before your first comment above.
I look forward to seeing you join us there and hope also to continue to hear from you.
Many thanks once again,
Cheers,
Veritas
Daniyot Says:
March 16th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
yes,I will give you a complete authorities do that(to post on the link)if and only you think that it is worthy.
March 16, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Now a days this discussion is giving me some sense of life,I mean I usually spent my time by reading some fictions or tabloids and related things when I get a chance(time) to do so,in other words I an engaged in day to day life as to feel my physical needs rather than my soul,it doesn’t mean that I am that much neive,even if I am,
It was a couple of days ago,I truly opened my eyes to read those conversations and /or discussions even I can say “thoughts” with out any limitation.therefore guess what happened to me at the end ,I started to share my ideas no matter how shallow they might be.I know that I do have a considerable understanding about my fellow Ethiopians so I can try some as long as it gives me some sense of life.
As far I am concerned I do not say Ethiopians are….and ..,but I can say we have bad parts as a societies which hinder our development absolutly,I do not want to spend our time by saying this and that adjectives to ethiopians,I do say that we have some chronic problems ,I know we have a problem in our custom,culture,politics,economy and so on,those are vived and they are not what we are talking about at least at the moment if am not mistaken,there is some achille hills,which is destroying our base ,h the main cause for the failer of our institutions,coopretions projects ,and our societal values,but they are hidden for a centuries ,no body tried or stretched his minds to comprehend themand stretch his hands to work out on them,I think if I am not mistaken this is my second time to see some one who forwarded those hidden epidemics into discussion for which we are we(omst of us) are scared of mentioning them even with close friends let alone with thepublic ,I remember one historian how he was cursed when he tried to criticize “Emperor Tewodros”and how sadly the discussion was ended ,Guys we have to be patient ,let say every one has the right to put forward what so ever ideas he think is good for the discussion. let me go back to my point,now someone paved the way ,please let us keep on discussing and and forwarding our point from what so ever angle.
Among so many factors ,the achille hell for our development are those factors,I do agree on this,and I will forward My points for my arguments if it is necessary but I do not say Ethiopians are ….
March 16, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Hello Yaya, Tazabi, Seife, Rediet, Kedir, Jama, and Daniyot:
Now we’re growing in number and are adding some interesting ideas to the original that I shared with you all and with, of course, all who’d have a chance to read it and participate in the discussion vigorously, passionately, and of course rationally or reasonably, above all truthfully and honestly.
I’m dropping this note to encourage you ALL and many others out there to participate actively in such a discussion as this one that is meant to engage us as fellow Ethiopians in a way that has not been done often enough, at least, in this manner.
I can imagine various constraints on each one of the participants, making it difficult to contribute as much as one wants to. All of us might be really interested to contribute to this discussion as much as possible if we’ve adequate time to do so. My life’s setting is in academic environment where most of my waking hours are being spent on reading and writing and thinking and that is one of the reasons that you’ve been able to see my comments being more frequent. But do not conclude from this that I’ve lots of time to blog like this. Not at all. I could have used all the minutes that I’m using to invest here in this discussion for my own research and writing which is in areas that are very remotely related to what I’m discussing here with you all. My main motivation to be here is to learn from fellow Ethiopians and also to better understand how my society functions.
Therefore, my point is to encourage you all to play active roles in these discussions with passion and honesty and commitment that will produce some fruits, eventually. As a typical academic type most of my waking hours are being spent trying to understand issues that are remotely related to what I’m discussing with you here and I’m learning how to think and share my thoughts with a very different audience than the one I’m part of, in another context that is my professional community, and I want to give credit to all of you who’ve been participating in this really important discussion for teaching me how to think clearly and communicate my thoughts clearly. Please accept my gratitude for that and I encourage you to continue to play active roles in the discussion.
It’s my deepest desire to share with fellow Ethiopians whatever I’ve learned from my life and life’s reflections and readings and research that I’ve been doing for some years. If I be able to hear some comments on what is going on I’ll also write something on truth and how truth (and hence truthfulness) is at the core of desirable characters, virtues, and how departing from truth (and hence truthfulness) is the destructive road to most of the vices that I’ve been mentioning.
I do hope that you all and many others will continue to be part of this soul-searching, honestly, truthfully, and with personal integrity that shines and is transparent and by so doing we’ll leave a better, virtuous, and intrinsically desirable legacy for those who look up to us to learn how to be a virtuous people as grown ups, as fellow Ethiopians, and above all, as people of character.
Would please continue with me in this rewarding enriching, and purifying journey?
Cheers,
Veritas
March 16, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Hello Daniyot:
Please accept my profound gratitude to the thoughts that you’ve shared. I wrote my last post that follows yours immediately without reading your great and highly encouraging post. I was typing when you posted yours, I think.
Just a quick thought or two: You wrote: “if am not mistaken,there is some achille hills,which is destroying our base ,h the main cause for the failer of our institutions,coopretions projects ,and our societal values,but they are hidden for a centuries ,no body tried or stretched his minds to comprehend themand stretch his hands to work out on them,I think if I am not mistaken this is my second time to see some one who forwarded those hidden epidemics into discussion for which we are we(omst of us) are scared of mentioning them even with close friends let alone with thepublic”.
My response is this to the above timely and great thoughts of yours: I’m at the beginning of undertaking a project that you’ve in mind and this discussion is initiated, among other reasons, for me to learn something fresh and worth learning from fellow Ethiopians as I set out to provide my sustained account-elsewhere- of the reason why these “hidden epidemics” are decimating us, eating us away, and stifling and stunting our development as a society, and as a nation. Some of the most fundamental reasons for most of our societal problems are deeply related to what we’re just discussing. That is my claim and that is what I’m here to discuss with and debate about with fellow Ethiopians.
Now is the time to work on these fundamental problems of our society that have been with and in us for centuries.
Daniyot, your contribution is refreshing and indispensable and I look forward to hearing more from you and many others.
Cheers,
Veritas
March 16, 2007 at 11:08 pm
I think we are now on the way to figure out our problems .If we succeed on figuring out our problems,trust me half of the solution is right there.Therefore, let us dig deeper and deer on our problem’s order to find out the real problem and became part of the solution. let me rise the following issues to ourselve.
We Ethiopians ,as individuals ,as single person ,how do we see our self?how do I define our self ?,let me say ,I am daniyot,How do I see my self ?do I ask my self about being and how do I answer those question to myself?what is the difference between what am I doing and what I am willing to do,what is the value of my existance to my self and to my society or to the world at large.What is my sacred part and what is my evil part,how am I working to develop my best part and to walk away from my evil part or I am someone like a saint or evil like Satinael or who am I?let as answer this questions,please do not deny at least for yourself,speak with yourself
To be candid,how do we make our living?how do you communicate with your friends about yoursr,How do your friends judge your presence or in your absence?,how do you work to your society ,how do you act to make money or to get promoted?,are you altruistic or egoist?,please let us talk to our self,how much do you respect your own words?,how strong enough you are to be honest and remain poor or how fast you are willing to live luxurious life in expense of fellow Ethiopian? ,please let us speak to our selves and let us take our discussion to the next phase.If you truly answer those questions to yourself ,then you are the one who are capable of solving our nightmares.
please pardon me for any grammer , logic voccabolary ,spelling and some related mistakes ,they the resultant effect of situation(time access and experience)I widely oppened my heart and mind to see the flow of this discussion
March 17, 2007 at 1:28 am
Hello Daniyot:
Great, thought-provoking, and excellent post! I’ll try to share my thoughts as soon as I get time.
I’m only dropping this note to express my deep appreciation for your honest, candid thoughts and questions.
Look forward to interacting with you and all who’re part of this discussion.
Many thanks,
Cheers,
Veritas
March 17, 2007 at 7:40 am
Hello Daniyot and All:
Now we seem to be at a stage to move ahead to work thru the issues we’re discussing and Daniyot is already leading us with a number of deeply personal and probing questions. I most certainly think that the questions Daniyot raises are crucially important and all of us should take them seriously IF we mean to care about truth.
In the days to come I want for us to discuss and passionately debate the following thesis I’m forwarding to for all of us: I think (and will argue) that almost all (I did not say all) character traits, the vices, that we’re discussing are the consequences of departing from or drifting away from truth and truthfulness. That is my thesis. Examples of such character traits I’ve in mind are: untruthfulness, or lying, dishonesty, self-deception, and deception of others, arrogance (pretension), suspicion of others, etc.
I’ll argue that the vices that concern us in the present context would not have been there, IF there were no departures from truth. Departures from truth presuppose that there is truth in the first place. That raises the question what truth is. Once one realizes that departure from truth and truthfulness is the source of almost all the vices, one naturally wants to know how one can return to truth and truthfulness. Return to truth and truthfulness is the most fundamental decision in one’s life for that way lies restoration and healing to a desirable life.
I look forward to reading and interacting with the participants in our present discussion and let’s share our thoughts about what I’ve just shared.
Many thanks,
Cheers,
March 17, 2007 at 5:57 pm
Hello All:
Now I’ve finally proposed a thesis to develop and clarify and defend and argue for. I’m also looking forward to some responses to the thesis as I look forward to developing it in interaction with and as part of this on-going conversation among us, concerned fellow Ethiopians about the problems under discussion.
In the meantime I just wanted to respond to some of the ideas in Daniyot’s posts. The following thoughts by Daniyot are revealing and remarkable in what they show us of a personal struggle a fellow Ethiopian could go thru when debating the theme of our discussions. “I have been carefully watching the way this discussion was started and going On ,To be honest I was shocked when I first happen to see the topic, I have made several attempts to scrutinize ,defend and/or accept the the issue by itself.” And also: “It was a couple of days ago, I truly opened my eyes to read those conversations and /or discussions even I can say “thoughts” with out any limitation. Therefore guess what happened to me at the end. I started to share my ideas no matter how shallow they might be. I know that I do have a considerable understanding about my fellow Ethiopians so I can try some as long as it gives me some sense of life.”
This is a refreshing sense of openness by Daniyot even if, as he/she says, his ideas were shallow and limited; yet his/her desire is to share them with fellow Ethiopians. That is commendable honesty. Thanks Daniyot for showing the rest of us what it means to be open and honest. This brings me to share with the audience, at least, with those who’ve been part of this discussion so far but now somehow, for reasons only they know whose presence is not being felt as much as some days back.
I’m a little bit concerned about the possibility of some of our conversation partners playing less active role on this blog and on the theme we’re discussing for the following possible–not actual, for I do NOT know yet— reason that, I think, has a lot to do with being Ethiopians. As most of us know, (or, even all of us Ethiopians know?) many Ethiopians do not openly and easily admit their mistakes if and even when they are mistaken. Earlier in one of my posts, I identified this character trait, a vice, as being a consequence of arrogance and/or pretension that goes by I know without a desire to admit that I do not know this or that, whatever the subject matter be. If those of us who’re participating in this very discussion do not leave such a character trait behind and go beyond it by learning to admit things that we do not know and also by admitting when we’ve made mistakes about this or that, I bet there is not going to be a fruitful discussion here for all or most of our discussions will only be continuations, by some of us, of living out, demonstrating, the same character trait, vice, defect that we ought to face head on and replace it with openly admitting our mistakes, admitting that we do not know this or that, in a word, by being exercising HUMILITY.
My hope is that those who’ve started to participate, some more actively than others, will be back and continue to play more active roles. I hope that my suspicion (this does not mean that I’m being suspicious) of the possible reason that I’ve just shared above won’t turn out to be true. May heaven forbid!
By contrast, I want to encourage all of us to share Daniyot’s attitude that I’ve quoted above plus the following that openly shows how he/she is willing to openly admit his/her limitations when he/she says: “please pardon me for any grammer , logic voccabolary ,spelling and some related mistakes ,they the resultant effect of situation(time access and experience)I widely oppened my heart and mind to see the flow of this discussion”.
Thank you Daniyot for setting us an example in what you’ve said and done above. By the way, I want to suggest the following to Daniyot, and, of course, to all of us who participate here: we can minimize spelling mistakes if we type our comments on Microsoft Word Document doing spelling checks and corrections and copy them to the blog. I do that myself since I do not want typos negatively affect the flow of my thoughts when read. We’re communicating in a language that all of have learned to various degrees and there is no reason for us to be afraid of sharing our ideas because of whatever limitations we might have. All of us have various limitations as human beings, and I’ve my own share of them, many in number, and you’ll notice them from time to time. Daniyot, I’ve had no problem following your thoughts and your English is much better than perhaps you might want to say.
I hope the above note encourages us all to play more active roles in whatever way we can as we work together on trying to trace back, in a form of diagnosis, our society’s ills, that is ours. No other group of people can realistically do that for us, Ethiopians, if we do not do that for ourselves for the simple reason that Ethiopians are the ones in a position to understand themselves better than non-Ethiopians would do. This is true for all other societies as well; we’re no exceptions to that. But then we need to be able to do soul-searching on ourselves FIRST before we say this or that about ourselves and such soul-searching requires honesty, truthfulness, openness, humility and all other related virtues; without such virtues, there is not going to be any lasting solution for our society’s most fundamental ills. This suggestion seems to be too bold to defend but I’m willing and also going to defend it and now in the meantime I’m looking forward to reading and working thru the most relevant objections from fellow Ethiopians as well.
Cheers,
Veritas
March 18, 2007 at 6:39 am
Hi Guys.
As far as I know we are sharing Ideas in respect of ’soul searching”isn’t it?I am sure all of you say “yes”equevocally.if your answer is yes,there is no end in “soul searching”there might be a time when some one be convienced or he or she may agree with someonce elses idea at some point,but it does not mean this is or that is final as long as we are on the road to soul searching,as I mentioned ,we may be convienced by someonce idea at some point,that should not be the end,let share.
This discussion may look like some thing easy or simple to someone or to some of us,trust me ,absultly not ,it is a new direction/HORINON SPECIALLY / to at least/TO us,I hope it would my best wish many my fellow ethiopian i have an opportunity take part in in this discution as writer or as reader
To be honest ,when I( I was only reader at that moment) happened to read march 12th post by seife,that why I am reading this book”then I was immidiatly convienced ,his words are steal fresh in my mind.I have to know much about my so that I can attack him easely I said to my seilf,when I read seifes’ post,I ssaid to my self do not give up Seife what so ever the direction of the discussion is. when you read more and more pages from the book of an American fellow ,you can get power to defend his idea and give him lessen,that is how teaching learning process is !I said to my self by standing in the shues of Seife.
my point here is .please let us keep on sharing ideas ,there is no end,let learn a piece of idea from one another,we have a lot of problems remained unsolved even unraised,let us go!!!!this the very beginning of the issue.
March 18, 2007 at 7:33 am
I am sorry guys ,part of paragraoh three is missing the reason I do not know ,please, read paragraph three as follow apologize once again for the inconvenience it my cause.
To be honest ,When I first happen to read March 12th post by Seife,I went back in memory to the year 1989 or 1990,I do not exactly remember the situation but I do exactly remember the point I discussed with my Friend order to refresh your memory it is about An American writer who insulted Ethiopians in his book as Seife said,When seife see the book he was not interested to read that book or even he did not like to see it(I am sorry if I am mistaken),that was the point where I went back in memory,It was in the year 1989 or 1990,I met one of my good friend in one cafeteria or road side’s that moment he had a book in his hand ,I did not west my time at least to see the topic of the book and to ask him about the book,Guess what the topic of the book wasI was confused or a little bit frustrated when I saw the topic tried to internalize my fear at that moment and I forwarded my first question as follow “this book is about devil do you read about devil ? ” he said to me Daniyot ,even you have to read this book ,it is really worthy reading he said to me.How ?I said, he put in the following way
March 18, 2007 at 7:58 am
The topic of the book my good friend had in his hand was ‘MANY FACES OF DEVIL’
March 18, 2007 at 9:16 am
I tried to fix my problems on the above post,but it did not worked out,I am sorry I wasted your time and mine either,so I decided to fix it before I went to my regular duty’s do no know How it happened therefore I am going to write the whole thing again.
As far as I know we are sharing ideas in respect of “Soul searching”isn’t it ?I am sure all of you say “Yes”equivocally.If your answer is yes,there is no end in soul searching,there might be a time when some one be convinced or he/she may agree with someones idea/argument at some point ,but that does not mean that is the end of the game as long as we are engaged in soul searching .
on the other direction this discussion may look like some thing easy or simple to someone or to some of us,trust me absolutely not,rather it is a new direction / horizon specially to us,I hope many of my fellow Ethiopians get part in as a reader or as a contributor,
let me share my situation After I started to read those posts,I ,first tried to read ,then tried to stand in the shoes of the contribution in order to se the points,then I started to think my points on the areas, finally decided to contribute what so ever I have with out fear.Today ,where ever I may go the whole thing about the discussion comes to my mind,I Analise ,fight with them and so and so,that means My mind is getting open and open.so why should I stop thinking?!
To be honest I was a reader at the moment when I saw March 12 post by Seife
March 18, 2007 at 9:25 am
I am sorry guys.I have made a considerable effert to make points clear ,,but part of my points are missing when I click on submit button.sorry again,
bye.
March 18, 2007 at 4:53 pm
Hello Daniyot and All:
Daniyot says, “Today ,where ever I may go the whole thing about the discussion comes to my mind,I Analise ,fight with them and so and so,that means My mind is getting open and open.so why should I stop thinking?!”
I wish all of those who’ve been participants (besides Daniyot) and/or readers at the moment, if there are some, would be as passionate as Daniyot for what we’re trying to do here, by joining us thinking along with Daniyot, why should I stop thinking?
I issue another challenge for all of us who’ve been partaking in this discussion (and the readers as well) if we have any desire to leave something GOOD TO GENERATIONS THAT COME AFTER US. It’s very difficult to find a forward, future looking attitude among many Ethiopians, and accordingly, thinking about leaving a good and desirable legacy for generations to come is NOT part of the Ethiopian mindset overall. That is a TRAGEDY that has befallen us for centuries.
If the previous generations of Ethiopians were forward looking generations whose prominent desire was to leave a good and desirable legacy for generations to come, Ethiopia TODAY would have been at a much different and much better situation. What is the result of generations that failed to be forward, future looking? The answer: LOOK AT ETHIOPIA and all the miserable forms of existence that one can find in one place!
Three thousand years of history of nearly meaningless or rather miserable existence with some sporadic good scattered here and there to comfort some that they have a GREAT history and long standing CIVILIZATION! I’d rather say, we, Ethiopians, are living proofs for what it means to exist for three thousand years as an unmistakable example of failure, tragedy rather than success that is desirable, and good. Who wants to live like many, millions of Ethiopians? A very qualified answer: Some fellow Africans who’ve undergone a dehumanizing colonial history. Any other groups of people want to live like Ethiopians? I very much doubt, and why would they?
What about Adwa? Countless Ethiopians will say. Yes, but please stop there for I’ve said something about it when I spoke about fellow Africans. What about Axum and some of the castles/buildings that are found, here and there, in some parts of the country? They’re good for tourist attractions as much as we, the living Ethiopians, are good for attracting the attentions of the whole world for all kinds of failure and misery that we’ve demonstrated by NOW. [One might wonder, I think, rightly, aren’t we a “zoo” of misery and failure, as a society?] You see the above examples that have been points of fixation for millions of Ethiopians? These all are about the PAST. Let’s LOOK FORWARD NOW. That is the point. Some might find it so distressing that their fellow Ethiopian is proposing this idea of forward looking, future oriented life for us–for ANOTHER generation– for that would seem to deprive us of our taking comfort in the PAST, which I’d call that fixation and false comfort for millions that borders on illusion and delusion.
Please have this important point in mind: some among readers of this discussion might, perhaps rather, would, think that I’m trying to propose ideas that are anti-Ethiopian and anti-history and immediately they might jump to a conclusion that would identify me with this or that group. If and when anyone does that, I’m so sorry for that person to waste his/her time by speculating about who I might be and which group I’m a part of.
I’m not part of any group, nor do I have a desire to identify myself with anything that goes in the name of Ethiopia by whichever group. I’m not a patriotic person in the sense that millions of Ethiopians would think that they are. My “Adwa”, or any desirable victory for Ethiopia that I WANT TO BE PART OF bringing about is about the generation to come that I want to leave something good and desirable for. I do not want to spend my waking hours thinking about the PAST about Ethiopia and living my life in such a way that shows, or imitates life in the past! Life as only backward looking? That is not life that I want to live.
I’m a concerned Ethiopian, am independent thinker, though that might sound a contradiction in terms for many Ethiopians for independent thinking is an anti-Ethiopian culture and identity. Think independently and you know what I’m talking about: you’ll immediately be condemned forever and hence ignored. That is a true Ethiopian response. That is why we live the way we do now. Part of the mystery for our existence is in how we treat ideas, good or bad, and how we respond to them. We dismiss them, ignore them, and call the person behind the ideas all kinds of evil things. That is a true Ethiopian history of how we treat ideas, noble or novel or what have you. I’m here to fight that life-style that head on which is part of my main reason for initiating this discussion.
Yes, I initiated the discussion about Ethiopians and their character traits as one of the most fundamental issues that ALL Ethiopians should be thinking about in order to see a transformation in the Ethiopian society beginning with us but more importantly for generations to come. The vices that we’ve inherited have taken generations and the virtues that I want us to leave as a legacy for generations will need a much longer time than we wish to be so. If we want the transition to a better, desirable Ethiopia to be in rather a generation, NOW is the moment to do an extensive and intensive soul-searching. Now is that time that can begin to change us, if we’re WILLING to embrace virtues and as all know not a single person can be a virtuous person overnight, let alone a community, and a society.
Will you join this soul-searching with discipline and commitment for the sake of the generations that we’re giving birth to and bringing into this world, into this Ethiopia not many would desire to be part of? Do we Ethiopians want to leave something better for our future generation of fellow Ethiopians? Do we have any such desire at all? We can leave such a legacy in one fundamentally important way: by willingly becoming people of character, virtues and here is a forum to help us begin such massive, extensive, and intensive, personal and collective soul-searching. Will you please join us?
Cheers,
Veritas
March 18, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Veritas,
I hear your heart felt plea loud and clear. Believe me these are the same issues you mentioned above was eating me for a long time and continue to be(i’m assuming many ethiopians thought about it one way or another too). I’m a bit dissapointed of the small # of people response so far, though. I can see you’re very passoinate about these issues so, you may need to find other venues to have a wider audience and reach to many ethiopians. I noticed in the past, there was an Ethiopian gender issue linked to this web log and i wittnesed that ethiopians are glued to their PC and instant messages were back and forth instantly. There’s a lot to be said what we do, how we behave and the consequences to follow but the question is how you address it? I used to visit Ethiopians who live in Wasington DC (also familiar with the metro VA,MD surronding area) and what i wittnesed was bizzare Ethiopian culture and their attitude totally unacceptable in any culture. When i questioned what’s going on, usually the answer would be “this’s how in this area or i’m out of it,i’m weired..”. Believe me, by the time i finished my visit, i felt like i’ve been worn out from a job, confused and misearble. I don’t know may be the people i associated happened to be like this and i’m alone feeling this way?. I really think, the church may need to engage on going dialogue or disscussion with the ethiopians who lives up there. My hope is that these bad characters i exibited only limited to that area or limted to the circle of people i know. Sorry, targeting a certain area Ethiopians, but that’s the areas i’m struggling with for quite some time. Veritas, may be the church “Priest” would do the trick.
March 18, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Hello Tazabi:
Thank you so much for understanding the gravity of the problem that I’ve set out to share with fellow Ethiopians. Thanks a lot for your encouraging words as well.
You’re right to share your disappointment at the number of participants we’ve seen given the nature and urgency of the debate. My hope is that more will join hands and minds as the days go by. I’ve just sent a note to another Ethiopian website to post my last note and also to link the post to where we’re discussing these issues here. Your note encouraged me to do that though I was also thinking of doing something like that when I started to see growing silence by fellow Ethiopians about this discussion.
Though we’ve not as yet started to take a certain sample of Ethiopians as our example of what we want to argue here, your taking the Ethiopian community in Washington DC and the metro area is well taken. I do not think you need to apologize for taking some example as long as you’re talking about the issue and you’re taking some segment of the Ethiopian population to illustrate your point. Let those Ethiopians openly refute your example, if you’re wrong. Let our intention be sincere and after the truth and within the purpose of what we’re discussing. Then I do not see any need to worry about sharing one’s personal reflections on this or that group of Ethiopians as long as they are Ethiopians. Give good reasons for what you take to be the case and let those who disagree with your reasons come up with better reasons and show that your thoughts were wrong. This is a national soul-searching and it’s about debating our vices to replace them with virtues and let’s try doing that honestly and sincerely without worrying as to what others would think and say. What others would think of me and say about me, is one of those deeply ingrained mindsets, vices, that run thru the Ethiopian society and such a mindset should never be allowed to stand in the way of searching after the truth.
About Churches and the role of priests as religious leaders and what they can do to address the problems we’re discussing I think we can bring these up at some point for I’ve already thought about who can and should do what in the process of helping reorient our society’s direction for a better future. But one thing we need to bear in mind: priests and pastors and all religious leaders should be role models themselves FIRST before they teach such virtues to others and I do not think that we’ve so many such virtuous religious leaders who lead life-styles that are radically different in the sense of being virtuous compared to the average Ethiopians. That is why I’m so concerned about this Ethiopian society: our problems are so, so, so deep and they need an absolutely profound self-examination, and sustained soul-searching!
As the discussion develops I’ve in mind not only religious leaders to play more active roles in the transformation of the Ethiopian society, but also I’ve in mind the roles to be played by educators, aspiring politicians, and the civil society at large and the Ethiopian society both individually and collectively. I hope that this discussion goes as far as bringing together all such broad Ethiopians for the fundamental solution for the fundamental problems that afflict Ethiopia.
Many thanks Tazabi for your note and please continue to play your active role as an individual both here in the discussion and all other ways that you leave something good to leave behind. I’ll always try to do likewise as long as I live.
Cheers,
Veritas
March 18, 2007 at 9:43 pm
That’s a good idea linking the issue, hopefully the word will be out. It’s a huge task you’re taking, but it’s worth trying,though.
March 18, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Hello Tazabi:
Thanks for your note again. Yes, I’m fully aware of the depth and difficulty of the task that I’ve decided to share with fellow Ethiopians for us to discuss and debate. This is a daunting task, and worth undertaking as you also realize.
I’ve spent years reflecting on such issues and am just beginning a public discussion for the first time. This is going to be a long term project that will go beyond this discussion on this blog but then it has to start somewhere and I chose to start it here.
One other important point: In order to avert or abort a possible misunderstanding when others decide to respond to one of my previous, most recent posts, esp., where I mention Axum and Adwa. Please note that the purpose of my mentioning them is not, primarily, to dismiss their significance, whatever significance they have for Ethiopians. I leave such debates about such historically significant events for historians. I’m not a historian. My area of study is, primarily, about IDEAS THEIR CONSEQUENCES; yes, ideas about Axum and Adwa have also consequences and I can say something about such ideas in the relevant part of this discussion in the days to come.
Mind you now: if the ideas about Axum and Adwa have negative consequences for the Ethiopian society, in whatever way, I’ll attempt to show such consequences of ideas for the betterment of the Ethiopian society. Fixation on historical events when such fixations become counterproductive then comes a needed criticism about such fixations in relation to such historic events, be that Axum or Adwa.
Therefore, please readers and participants of this discussion do not aim your thoughts and pens at this writer thinking that I’m simply dismissive of Axum and Adwa. It’s also good to know that I do NOT have any fixation on such historical things for I can only take them seriously so long as they have a positive good to contribute to my existential struggles NOW and also so long as I do not lose focus on what I should do for a generation to come. I’d rather focus on the present and the future without forgetting taking good lessons from the past. Axum and Adwa and all such historic events of the past won’t teach us ALL that we need to live our lives in a way any flourishing society should live its life.
The past cannot be EVERYTHING since the present should be lived in a worthy manner for the future to be positively affected. I’d rather take such historic events as Adwa and as such much less seriously, if need be, and contribute something good and desirable and lasting to the future generation of Ethiopians than take Adwa and as such most seriously and leave only the memory of Adwa with much less to give to the future generation of Ethiopians. It matters quite a lot what we choose and stand for and I call upon fellow Ethiopians to examine what they stand for and live for and want to die for, if need be. Who wants to die for the past knowing full well that such a death does nothing whereas dying for noble causes for the future Ethiopians by far surpasses dying for the past, if such a thing were possible.
If people only talk about the past and do not do much at the present (or what they do is wrongheaded all the more) they’ve already died such a death, death unto the past. Now the question becomes: how will future generation of Ethiopians will benefit from such backward looking talk and walk that lacks adequate and relevant vision about the future, about them. This is a call upon fellow Ethiopians to do soul-searching even when such soul-searching involves out attitude towards our history in the past as we’re called to make history, a better and worthy history, for future generation of Ethiopians, not about the past. Will you join this call with your hands, heatrs and minds?
Cheers,
Veritas
March 18, 2007 at 10:55 pm
P.S.
Please read the above “IDEAS THEIR CONSEQUENCES” above as IDEAS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES.
Thanks,
Veritas
March 19, 2007 at 1:26 am
Back again:
As Daniyot remarked in one of his posts, as it’s already been the case with me, I could not stop thinking about the issues I’ve been proposing for us to discuss and debate and learn from one another. Why should I stop thinking?
Since touching the story of Axum and Adwa and the other historically important things that I’ve mentioned in one of my posts today is like touching the nerves’ of Ethiopians, so to speak, I just wanted to be clear about the point that I was trying to make even after adding one more clarification above.
Yes, Axum has a “historical significance” for millions of Ethiopians. I’m not that sure what that historical significance would amount to. I’ve every right to doubt and even deny any such historical importance for Ethiopia NOW and the future of Ethiopia except for its tourist attraction, which is not a bad thing in and of itself. If such a civilization was purely of Ethiopian origin in the first place, I do not know what that would mean, my problem is not with that civilization. Rather my problem would be, what has happened to us, Ethiopians, SINCE THEN that has brought us backwards centuries into the past? Do we, Ethiopians, realize that there no signs of civilization, like, at least Axum-type, in most of Ethiopia’s rural areas these very days in over 2000 years? That is a very important question for me. Instead of “worshiping” such relic from the past, can we bring about a new Axumite civilization now and for the future Ethiopians? That is an important question for us to consider, ponder about and look forward to. That is my Axum connection. Not much to make a huge fuss about.
Yes, about Adwa: It’s much more important to positively think of the good and historic symbolism of Adwa for Ethiopians at large. The most important reason that Adwa should be seen as a positive symbol for Ethiopians is because of its victory being a victory over dehumanizing colonial history. That is well taken. Yes for Adwa, in that sense. But then I think we miss the point of Adwa if we continue to be dehumanized by our own people who rule Ethiopia in such a way that it seems much better, at least for me, to be considered a slave and dehumanized by foreign rulers in my own country than by my own people in my own country! If foreigners were to dehumanize and rule over us, they would do so by thinking that we’re so different from them and also so inferior to them, which seems easier to imagine than what is the case when such evil things are done to Ethiopians by Ethiopians! We need our new Adwa now and for the future generation of Ethiopians. We’ll continue to lose the battle for our new Adwa if we do not do a massive and extensive and intensive soul-searching that I’m talking about all the way! Our new Adwa starts with a victory over deeply ingrained character traits of millions of Ethiopians. That is where the battle is and that is what we should be fighting. It starts with fighting my own character defects as much as fighting those others who affect the lives of Ethiopians in many evil ways, because they’re also suffering from the very same sickness, character defects, vices but only in much greater scale.
Our new Axumite civilization can come to pass only if we decide to address the deeply ingrained character problems among millions of Ethiopians. Our new Adwa over all forms of evil governance and much alike will come to pass only if we decide to address the deeply ingrained character problems among millions of Ethiopians. That is my proposal. I bet if we fail to do this, we’re inevitably doomed to make any desirable progress. Our future will be only as good as our past and our present. That is no future; it’ll only be, again, the past and the present incarnating themselves in the mirror of the so-called future. May heaven forbid such a history!
Cheers,
Veritas
March 19, 2007 at 6:11 am
I was afraid of myse