I was born
and grew up in a typical humble and tough Christian family, attending church classes
and services then joining public school with ethical prayers before commencing
classes, sung national anthem to raise the flag before entering classes, honouring
our teachers as our second parents to discipline and correct us if we did
something out of conventional procedures, mixing it up and making friends with all
types of students from different ethnic backgrounds without any preconditions.
I sung national
anthem & honoured my turn to raise the national flag in school before entering and commencing classes.
School Prayer
Prayers I Wrote For Myself
Some of the
scriptural idioms our – (ግብረ ገብነት –moral) teacher taught us in our
elementary school class remains reverberating with me to this day – (ክፋትን የዘራ መከራን ያጭዳል – RT-Roughly
Translates: He who sows iniquity will reap vanity/suffering) & (ክፉ ለሠራ ሰው በጐ የመለሰ፣ ዘላለም ይኖራል ፀጋ እንደለበሰ። – RT: Those who do good deeds to evil doers, will live on forever
wearing gems of glory). 
Ethiopian Bible, Alphabets, All Political Pamphlets
Like the
rest of devoted believers, the belief in my Christian values was deep-rooted in
me; I was so absorbed in reading and studying inspirational bible verses and
any spiritual scriptures to make it into church ceremonials. When I left my
country, I took all my personal church prayer notes and my red Amharic Bible
with me including some other virtuous nostalgic memorandums (see pictures).
The Old & New Ethiopian Money
Video of My Generation's Chronicle
Without
getting carried away and being incriminated for some of my honest revelations
as in my all stories and to fend off from deeply falling into melancholic state
–Home sick, I simply want to say, I am so proud to be born in a well-developed moralistic
family/society at a time of all the reflections (generations) mentioned in –እኛ የመጨረሻዎቹ (Egna
Yemechereshawochu) –narrative video.
Arat Kilo Monument, City Hall, Train Station & The Trinity Church
This video really
stirred up my emotions reminding me to reminisce about all the things I’ve
seen, heard and done to provoke and revitalize my feelings to write and post this
commentary about all the stuffs my generations & I have seen and enjoyed.
These includes the abrupt and unyielding changes of my country’s map and its severed
regional shape, the dominant figures that ruled it, the national anthems and
the high-spirited music of the time, the looks of famous national flags and all
my personal nostalgic mementos (see pictures) to affirm my allegiance to that
generations that am gratified to belong to the reverence worthy and ethically unassuming
generations who lived together in harmony and looked after their neighbours
welfare. (Image updated Sept 2021)
Old & New Ethiopian Maps, Leaders & Flags
Those were
the real strong values we believed and lived together with love and good will
in our diverse multi-ethnic society and I’ve lived up to that ethical code to
this day.
Old & New National Anthems
Amassing all
the genuine altruistic attitudes of our time, my generations have untapped
wisdom to pass on to the new generations if and only if they are open minded
and capable of taking it all in, luckily, by just using their fingertips to
enter. We didn’t have today’s opportunities to use techs but certainly we were
keen to read any how to books you can think of to soak up more knowledge wholeheartedly
and eagerly.
Singer of That Generations, Bizunesh Bekele
In my view,
the new generations are more informed, visionary, hold the power, have the
choice, tolerant, knowledgeable, quick-witted, optimistic, progressive,
confident, healthier, living longer, fortunate…and the luckier generations than
all. Therefore, they have the choice to use it or just see it and look the
other way. And this is an illuminating trend that will continue to transform
generations after generations.
Just as a
piece of land has to be prepared beforehand if it is to nourish the seed, so
the mind of the pupil has to be prepared in its habit if it is to enjoy and
dislike the right things. –Aristotle
The new
generations must be mindful and ready to encourage and re-validate fundamental
ideals of human dignity, egalitarianism, fairness, and so forth in order to
guarantee an honest peace based on contemporary social revolution (change)
without rhetoric hollow political clichés and deceitful old ways of unity by
reintegrating our people separated and divided by tribal based regions, flags
and ethnic nationalism (see pictures). No ethnic elites are forced to renounce
their ethnic identity to chase their dreams. Of course, peaceful change – (ሰላማዊ ለውጥ) requires
a well thought out and comprehensive approach. They must first and foremost
build trust through an open reconciliation and mutually recognized healthy
policies.
Given our past
traditional track records, patterns of cultural behaviours and many aphorisms
of the social characterization, absolute power, hating and abandoning others
just because our friends don’t like them and a favouritism tend to corrupt society,
the cultural politics and both mind and spirit of those at the helm of their companions
genuinely where other’s absolute influence has a tendency to encourage it. We
all need to give up the cardinal sins of status quo ordeals and endeavour to
reform progressive objectives to form a seamless existence.
“People deserve much
less punishments, or even perhaps no punishment, for what they did many years
ago as compared to with what they did very recently.” –Derek ParfitAcknowledging all those changes are not only pivotal for our society, it’s an ultimate way to survive and thrive interconnected. Generations must draw strength from past patriots, scholars and senior elders and comprehend the immoral, virtuous and flaws to pave the way for perfect social transformation.
Singer of That Generations, Abebe Tessema
They must also
understand the arduous task of coming together with a contested past that requires
a robust and inclusive debate that can only happen within a democratic environment
capable of reconciling social conflicts according to shared rules.
Our old
habits can get so deeply engrained in us that they affect our body and mind at
a cellular, organizational and cultural level to outlaw any new methods of
doing businesses and connections.
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from
an indomitable will.” –Gandhi The concept of solidarity based only on shared mutual loses and grievances we are currently witnessing are not based on a shared dreams, values, equality and unity that will build new Ethiopia. Principally, Solidarity doesn’t equate to unity, rather the idea of upholding to sustain multi-national understanding, tolerance, respect and acceptance of differences. Thus, we have mistaken solidarity for unity, thereby staining our united activities.
The majority of ethnic elites have never been able to honestly discuss any complaints or sensitive matters of the past at a table and challenge partisan relevance with mutual conviction and understanding apart from individually writing, posting and talking about it incessantly.
“Insanity is
doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
–Albert Einstein
Star Singer of That Generations, Tilahun Gessesse
Like my generations,
I grew up in a multi-ethnic culture and loved it deeply to this day. Unlike some
(I said some not all) of my generations, learning a positive attitude towards
life goes a long way in achieving knowledge and mental peace and thereby
keeping me stress free. I quickly transformed myself to be able to adapt with
the rapidly changing social order and beliefs without stubbornly staying with
my old traditional social creeds. I stand back but not remain silent and don’t
let the daily hassles grind me down. It’s too easy to become angry and cynical.
There are millions of reasons and excuses not to do things without hating
anybody.
"I choose to be strong by being soft and
pliable rather than inflexible, brittle, and hard." - Dr Wayne Dyer. However, to motivate myself, I have to get up each day to try again and again until my search is contented no matter how small. It could be to get out of the house, read or write about something I truly love, sort out my jobs, visit friends or parks or do what comforts me to restore my energy and spirit. I try to change something I don’t like when I can and accept what I can’t. Be grateful and contented with what I already have that includes all my past sufferings, because I’ve learned from those griefs to persevere and produce my best character thereby looking up to an infallible hope to respect all people irrespective of their social eminence, status and cultural background.
Always
having to please everyone is detrimental to our wellbeing. It drains us
mentally and has the ability to damper our self-esteem. It is common that
always trying to please others may lead to people mistreating us. I’ve, like
few people, fallen into this category by mixing up with challenging individuals
several times in my life time. I’ve learned to live with all circumstances as
they are.
"I
don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please
everybody." - Bill Cosby
Star Singer of That Generations, Mahmoud Ahmed
This is one
resilient and profound statement that the new generations must establish and practice
in their own way by setting disciplined boundaries without being carried away
by their peculiar personalities.
Life presents
challenges and sufferings such as accidents, illnesses and the loss of loved
ones by death or alive. There are times
when we are overwhelmed by sudden calamity, natural or manmade –similar to the
current unbearable situations in my country of birth. We all make
mistakes. And at times we are lost. And as we get older, we learn we don’t always
have control of things. But we do have
control over how we respond to the circumstances we encounter every single day.
Stevie Wonder & Soul Train, Dances of That Generation
“If you
always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.”
We do have the
choices and power over how we treat one another. Without doubt, the ruling
classes lost control of the dreadful treatment of our people, lost their senses
of what, how, when to do their job properly, governed by greed, hungry for power
or not well informed and prepared to follow the vicious cycles of regimes from one
era to the next, being terribly exposed to maltreatments and killings for so
long.
"They carry around a deep wound,
and when a doctor touches a wound, it makes you feel better. I sort of rubbed
their wounds."
–Feyisa Lelisa
Like Feyisa,
new generations hold the power, have the choice, must be true to their beliefs,
no one can force them and above all, can decide what they want to perpetuate.
The world
must know and our new generations must also discern that as we live in an open
society, we do not persevere alone. Our existence
is not found in isolation. Hope does not
arise by putting our fellow human beings down; it is found by embracing each
other.
One Ethiopia For All, All For One Ethiopia!
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