HAPPY ENKUTATASH ETHIOPIAN NEW YEAR

A TELL-TALE WORTH KNOWING

Enku-ta-ta-sh (እንቁጣጣሽ) is the first day of the New Year in Ethiopia based on the Coptic calendar, which was fixed to the Julian calendar. It occurs on Meskerem 1 on the Ethiopian month calendar, which is September 11 or 12 in the leap year of the worldwide Gregorian calendar.

By a calculation the Ethiopian calendar is currently seven years and eight months behind the global Gregorian calendar.

Enkutatash is also an important festival for the Ethiopians as it symbolizes the advent of good harvest weather. After months of torrential pour, the month of September sees clear skies and fresh, clear, beautiful atmosphere. The highlands all teeming with flowers and the land looks like it is made of clear gold as the Meskel –religious celebrations to commemorate the discovery of the true cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified –daisies bear flowers in the season.

The Origins of Enkutatash

Tracing the origins of the Enkutatash tradition, as historians site it, whether it’s factual or not, is a tell-tale biblical spectacle as the Ethiopian Queen of Sheba aka ‘Makeda’ came back from her visit to the fabled King Solomon, the elders (the chides) of the tribes as a welcome gesture offered her Jewels known as enku(jewels). This story is still under extreme study about its authenticity. However, Enkutatash translates to the ‘Gift of Jewels’ and has been celebrated henceforth in the season of spring. September (Meskerem) hence is the month which sees the transition period of the transformation from the old to the new and hereafter this month nestles within it the hopes for a brighter and better future.

The Origins of Meskel

Meskel (መስቀል) celebration occurs on the 17^th of Meskerem (September) in the Ethiopian calendar which is September 27 or 28 in leap years in the Gregorian calendar.

Meskel, a religious holiday celebrations in the Ethiopian Orthodox, commemorates the discovery of the cross by the Roman Empress St. Helena (Saint Helena), mother of Constantine the Great, in the fourth century, on which Jesus Christ was crucified.

According to written observations, in the year 326 AD Queen Helena went on a search for the true cross and was unsuccessful until she received help through a dream.

In accordance with her dream, she made a bonfire (Demera - ደመራ) and the smoke gave her direction to the spot where the cross was buried. To herald her success, Helena (also known as Nigist Eleni in Ethiopian) lit torches.

 Traditional Meskel Celebrations
 On the Eve of Meskel, bonfires ( ደመራ - Demera) are made out of dry leaves and wood, and lit alight in front of the houses. This lighting of the bonfires is then accompanied by the singing of songs by the young and the old. At wee hours of the morning, people dress themselves in traditional Ethiopian costumes as they pay a visit to the church which is followed by family meals comprising of injera which is basically a form of flat bread and wot –an equally famous Ethiopian staple stew. (These are famous cuisines available in every Ethiopian restaurant around the world. Please, visit your local venders and enjoy the feast.)

The girls in Ethiopia on New Year occasions go on singing songs from door to door and receive money for it, much like the tradition of Christmas choirs and carol singing children, the boys of Ethiopia on the other hand sell pictures of flowers that have been drawn by them. I remember, every year we couldn’t wait to exhibit our best flower drawings for competition and then after going around neighbourhoods to present the flowers to receive small amounts of money in return for appreciation, This was one of the best highlights of my childhood life. With the advent of the evening people go and visit their family and friends as they drink Tella, Tej and Araki –the locally homebrewed traditional Ethiopian beverages. (Please, visit your local Ethiopian restaurants and ask for if they sell them.) Also as the elders sit together and discuss about things that concern them and about their hopes for a New Year. The children wander around freely and happy to spend the money they have managed to earn giving out their flower drawings on the occasion.

Modern Celebrations

Nowadays, although, some still follow the traditional indoctrinations, others have embraced the city’s inhabitant’s way of life fancying the modern spirit and have adopted the more western way of sending out greetings instead of the traditional bunch of flowers that have been part of the Ethiopian customary since the beginning of the festivities.

MEMORANDUMS OF PEACE

To all my Ethiopian family, friends, people, wherever you maybe, back Home or scattered around the world, may the coming year be a very healthy, peaceful, prosperous and Happy Enkutatash.

It is common to read history backward and assume that a particular group is destined to become dominant, but conflict is part of the historical narrative and as such unavoidable part of human experience marked by complex relations and a never ending alternation between the oppressed and oppressors, families, friends and foes.

It is said that those who do not learn from past mistakes are doomed to repeat it. Many mistakes and errors have been committed by successive HABITS in the past. These mistakes need to be identified, studied and lessons drawn from them so that they will not be repeated again. We need to build collective agenda to advance and support these mistakes and undertake not to repeat them.

Playing the ethnic card game is to fall victim to destructive identity politics that breeds division, hatred, conflict, and cynicism. One Ethiopia: no more trickery and cynical ploy to divide the country along ethnic line for the sole purpose of maintaining its hegemony.

The process of unifying people is difficult and the road to unity is often littered with the debris of historical grievances, animosity and resentment.

We cannot transform our country without first educating, inspiring and transforming our people to the level that requires understanding, mutual respect and endeavor to unfold the bondage of ignorance and evil governance that capitalizes on our negligence to become informed and ready to defend collectively, as living organism of habitat do, to the perpetual continuity of our existence as Ethiopians. –Tesfaye Aman

The realities today are different than they were five, ten or twenty years ago. Aligning one’s thinking and actions with the changing times (realities) and circumstances is a sign of wisdom and humane maturity.

Failure can be turned into an opportunity to learn and grow. I say it can, because it requires a particular attitude to benefit from our failure. Without that mentality, all our failures will go to waste. This is true in political affairs as it is in personal life for a leader as well as a follower. So what is that mentality?

It is a mentality that is willing and able to reflect on past experiences – past actions and their outcomes.

It is only through such reflections that one learns one’s strengths, weaknesses and the environment and conditions in which actions were undertaken and what could have been done differently that could have resulted in a positive outcome.

As Obama time after time stated in several of his deliveries, “change takes time”, it’s time for us to take responsibility for our own predicaments and stop the name and blame game!

May the coming year be a time to resolve all our uncertainties and sustain peace and harmony in our family, friends, community, locally and globally.

Health & Happiness

BELIEVE IT OR NOT!

This is entirely a personal exploration & understanding of the religious institutions during my own many moon’s & sunshine’s lifetime journey. I was an ardent believer and partaker of a monolithic experience of the Judeo-Christian ethics and values, the oldest and unique Ethiopian mosaic Orthodox religion, practicing it, like my parents and my fellowmen, so passionately and arduously.
I started to write my own prayer in my own way while growing up and even took my bible with me when I left Home. Read full story at https://timeforchangesociety.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/been-there-seen-that-part-of-that.html  

I have an enormous respect and appreciation for my families, friends & other people in general for their practices of any religions of their choice with no denigration and hatemongering.

Nonetheless, older and wiser, as true believer as I was, I began to be so agnostic and secular and my doubts about my practice started to haunt me every day. My reaction was an honest doubt, personal awe, even fear and this experience became the bedrock of a conscious revelation of my belief. 

These statements get me into trouble amongst “some” polite people. Despite the fact that more and more people are comfortable “coming out” as atheists, the word is still very much associated with being immoral, or at the very least amoral. This is, of course, despite the fact that there is neither logical nor empirical reason to draw that conclusion.

Philosophers have agreed that gods are simply irrelevant to morality, regardless of whether they exist or not. And of course modern sociological research shows that atheists are just as moral as religious believers. Still, the stigma persists.

It seems that in many people's conception if you really can't be religious, at least you should try to be spiritual. If you are not, then you must be a damned selfish materialist.

The interpretation of the word spiritual is someone who takes care of cultivating and reflecting on his ethics, of behaving justly and compassionately toward his fellow human beings.

Spirituality means something different to everyone. For some, it's about participating in an organized religion, going to a church, synagogue, mosque, and so on. For others, it's more personal, some people get in touch with their spiritual side through private prayers, yoga, meditations, quiet reflections or even long walks.

Yes, some people are more reflective than others, some more compassionate, some more inclined to read literature and go to art museums or concerts. But I submit that to do the above is part and parcel of what it means to be human.

People sure have strong beliefs about what's right and wrong. Yet, even though morals can vary from person to person and culture to culture, many are universal, as they result from basic human emotions.

My point here, in today’s well-informed society, is not to moralize, but to point out the practical implications of religious dogma.

I think it's because you're hearing something authentic and pure at this moment, when sometimes it's hard to tell what's real and what an advertisement is. It's simply an act of generosity and love talking about lives lived with kindness, courage, decency and dignity and when you hear that kind of story, it can sometimes feel like you're walking on holy ground.

I've learned about the almost unimaginable capacity for the human spirit to forgive. I've learned about resilience and I've learned about strength.

Regardless of how people perceive, understand or appreciate me or not, it motivates me to make sure that I stay on the right path. You still believe in me, and the fact that you can do it despite how much pain I caused you by revealing the truth.

I live this every day now. I walk down the streets as a man and I really am at peace with who I am. I mean, I wish I had a stronger voice maybe, but now I walk softly in love and I try to live that way every day.

It takes some courage to have these conversations embodying ‘The four things that matter most’ that you want to say to the most important people in your life before they or you die are thank you, I love you, forgive me, I forgive you. They're just about the most powerful words we can say to one another without preconditions and believing in anything.

My mother, who was such a towering figure in my life, instilled in me her tenacity and resilience to be happy if I wanted to be successful. 

Change is about striving to go beyond our limitations and create something better both in our personal lives and collectively to eliminate or even lessen pain and sorrow from our and other’s life without reservations by relinquishing our inner resistance to take positive action and transform or discover something profoundly new without resignation.

To do so, knowledge isn’t generally the driver of our behaviour. We often don’t do what we should do because of inattention, apathy, avoidance, fear, being too busy, confronting an unsupportive environment, a negative attitude or habit or routine without being labelled a pushover. 

The realities today are different than they were five, ten or twenty or thirty years ago. Aligning one’s thinking and actions with the changing times (realities) and circumstances is a sign of wisdom and humane maturity. “If we always keep doing what we have always done, we’ll always get what we have always got”.

The fact of the matter is people with the most power, assimilated our faith, destroyed the generations that knew the truth, and pushed it on us the way they wanted to live their lives. 

People are dead set on believing something that their grandparents were forced to believe and it just got hard-pressed down generations after generations. I can remember getting harassed and intimidated to go to gospel study, by the religious people during my overseas stay with them in my younger years, because I didn't want to go to a different kind of church known as Mennonites. So, to speak, just envisage & think what used to happen to the older people in the bygone era.

We need to break free from negative emotions of the past, out-dated beliefs and opinions how we have and ought to do things that passed on to us via generational setting, inherited collective mind-patterns that have kept our generations in captivity creating so much of their suffering for eternities manifesting in our own misery today.

I yearned and persisted on searching for something new and completely different, in terms of what I have been accustomed to and my beliefs, devotion and religious faith, vision that will empower me and enhance my exultations and abundance with no regrets, of the hell and heaven guilt trips.  

I continued to make my own exploration, even though the risk was too great widening doors of isolation and the outcome too thin, to find the redemption of my life’s worth and the validity of my practice and sifting through the rest of all other religions probing for choices in order to advance my self-worth and wellbeing. Through my search for inner happiness, I learned the power of infusing meaning, mission and narrative into my actions. I also learned of the virtues of welcoming ambiguity and living in mystery.

One way of overcoming personal difficulties depends on how well one uses his devotion and sacrifices to do what’s needed of him/her by the power of religion by taking care of the ‘number one’ first and foremost.            

For good or evil, faith factors into our everyday functioning and what we’ve evolved to believe. Religion can help us make sense of our world, provide motivation and bind us together. Nevertheless, systematic and structured belief has its drawbacks. So, we need to keep our minds open when dealing with dogmas.

To my surprise, apart from mutual congregation and enjoying the ‘Hillsongs’, socially connected to lessen society’s isolation and dispirited retribution of fate, there is nothing that enhances one’s personal development by practicing any religion. The tenor of our social life is one of the most important influences on our mental health and in many ways, our mental health impacts our ability to be physically healthy and vice versa. Yet physical well-being plays an undeniably important role in our daily lives and the nature of that relationship typically influences all others in our life. Our survival as a species similarly hinges on our capacity for social living and suitable environment. Most of human history was spent in small groups in which each was dependent on the others for survival and evidence suggests this is the condition to which we are best adapted.

Initially and primarily, I, too, was interested in how individuals built, grew and sustained their well-being and religious beliefs.

The insights I gained extended far beyond lessons in religious beliefs that will include the fundamental questions of life –What & how do we think about death? How do we handle failure? How do we navigate uncertainty? What & how do we think of religions? So, where is the ‘pure’ Islam, Judaism, Buddhism or Christianity, which people preach whether destructively or positively? How do we build and maintain healthy relationships? What do religious people look like (based on racial issues)? Sounds like, “How deep is your love?” How much do we really know the truth? How do we perform outside the religious worship circles? Ultimately, how do we live? These and many questions remain unanswered or contrived to suit different religious institutions.

The real situation is, Christianity, as with Islam and all other religions, mediated by the thoughts and actions of people’s imperfect conducts –social injustices. Whether or not one holds that religion has existence as a divine essence beyond the human survival effort, it is beyond speculation or dispute that the manifestation of religion is only humanities solemn practice, with all its shortcomings, flaws, weaknesses and vulnerabilities. It’s sad that religious institutions, once a safe haven for some, at least uplifting the spirit, are apparently becoming intolerable and contemptible for not keeping its promises, faith and all its perpetual practices. For example, the ongoing tedious fallout of the Catholic clerics’ negligence, with allegations of strings of controversies, includes Australia's most senior prelate of the Catholics.

There is, as a matter of simple fact, no uncontestably pure or real form of religions –Christianity, Islam or other religions anywhere in existence. There are simply Humans, whether Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Jesus, Buddha, Muhammed, etc. They’re all humans of ceaseless devotion, volition & virtue. It was the social movement for changes that produced these great ethical and religiously influential clerics. The key beliefs held by Christians about Jesus were his altruistic commitment including his spirituality, humanity and earthly life. 

According to scriptures, Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Little is known about his early life, but his life and his ministry are recorded in the New Testament.

His mother, Mary, was a virgin who was betrothed to Joseph, a carpenter and there are trace references of Jesus working as a carpenter as well while a young adult. It is believed that he began his ministry at age of 30.

Christians believe Jesus was born through Immaculate Conception. Say what? Aye! “Believe it or not”, sounds like a sensationalized story of written scriptures to intrigue believers to the world of “Fantasy Island”. So, everyone knows, I don’t intend to go further into his life’s idealization and just emphasize few of his humanitarian endeavours.

Jesus is a religious leader whose life and teachings are recorded in the Bible’s New Testament. According to Christians, he is a central figure in Christianity and is emulated as “Son of God” by many Christians all over the world and his teachings are followed as an example for living a more spiritual life. Christians believe he died for the sins of all people and rose from the dead. Surely, I was taught to believe that inscription too.

Most of Jesus's life is told through the four Gospels of the New Testament Bible, known as the Canonical gospels, written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Who knows who proved that? These are not biographies in the modern sense but accounts with allegorical intent. They are written to engender faith in Jesus as the Messiah, who came to teach, suffer and die for humanity’s sins. As they say, Amen!

CHRISTIANITY AROUND THE WORLD

Jesus was beaten and condemned for claiming to be the “Son of God” and the king of the Jews and ordered to be crucified. Scriptures also tell us, he had risen from the dead and beseeched his disciples to go into the world and preach the gospel to all humanity by receiving the power of the Holy Spirit, before he was taken upward on a cloud and ascended into heaven. Have you seen “Alice in Wonderland’ movie? Just asking!

There were and still are lots of humanistic and equally holistic saviours in our time too, but no one seems to care or notice their adamant contributions to humanities’ welfare, let alone worship them.

Although Christian views of Jesus vary, it is possible to summarize the key beliefs shared among major denominations. Most Christians believe that Jesus was both human and the “Son of God”. Judaism rejects the idea of Jesus being “Son of God” or a mediator to God or part of a Trinity. It holds that Jesus is not the Messiah, arguing that he neither fulfilled the Messianic prophecies in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible canon) nor embodied the personal qualifications of the Messiah.

Is that because he was just another fellow amongst them, but good fella? Dare I say, Amen! We can still say Amen for all good deeds people do without labelling them as petty religious.

While there has been theological debate over his nature, some early Christians viewed Jesus as subordinate to the Father and others considered him an aspect of the Father rather than a separate person.

He was regarded as just a great moral teacher and compassionate being who dedicated his life to the welfare of humanity.

What a sentimentalizing and inspiring story of human trials and tribulations, which really attracted, “more than what meets the eye”. While he’s commendable and trustworthy for his altruistic efforts, it shouldn’t be a foundation and construed to worship any man for their good actions, intentions and influences or inspirations.       

Jesus was the central figure of Christianity whereas Muhammed was the prophet & founder of Islam and Buddha was the quintessential and enlightened individual who revealed the power of overcoming suffering and attaining enlightenment which lies within each of us.

The latter was the practice, rather philosophy of life, that answered my entire quest for peaceful, successful, a happy life and got my curiosity to start my exploration to discover the practicality of its practices for humanity. 

While I was searching, in the wrong places, for an alternative ways by practicing my birthright religion, for my personal development, to lessen all my sufferings, I was introduced to the practices of Buddhism also known as 'Mindfulness' practice in the modern era. It came into my thorough understanding as I pursued to practice it. After several days, weeks, months, attending several practice meetings and demanding more answers to my skepticism about its differing views than my indebted religious practices, I was finally flabbergasted and inspired by its experiences, positive conspicuous benefits materially and spiritually about the changes in my approach to my long-term lifestyle. This is how I started my curiosity or journey of exploration of the thousand miles.

The founder, Siddhartha Gautama, who is also called Buddha - “enlightened one”, was born into a wealthy family near the border of modern India. Confronted by the reality of ageing, sickness and death, he left his rich home at the age of 29, meditating under a tree and spent seven years travelling India as an ascetic.

Unlike all religions, Buddhism didn’t believe in a creator God or worship any supreme being or deity. A commonsense and mindfulness based belief of rather the recognition of cause & effect, seeking insight into the true nature of life, as means of changing in order to develop the qualities of awareness, kindness and wisdom.

BUDDHISM AROUND THE WORLD

Buddha did not envisage himself as establishing a religion. Buddhists have no belief in higher deities, but propose a path towards freedom from suffering, attain individual enlightenment, through deep reflection on the nature of day-to-day existence. This focus on self-redemption makes it qualitatively quite different from other belief systems which base themselves around concepts of divine mercy or grace. Shall we say, Amen!

Then again, the leader of Muslim faith, Muhammad, means 'praiseworthy', was called the prophet and founder of Islam. He was just like all those good men in our time that did equally insurmountable acts of kindness. According to Islamic doctrine, he was God's Messenger, sent to confirm the essential teachings of monotheism –the doctrine or belief that there is only one God. This is not a proven prophecy. Some modern denominations deviate from this belief.

However, Muhammad united Arabia into a single Muslim society and ensured that his teachings, practices and the Quran –“Word of God” –formed the basis of Islamic religious belief.

Muhammad was orphaned at an early age; he was raised a destitute under the care of his paternal uncle. At age of 40, he testified being visited by Gabriel in the cave, where he occasionally stayed and stated he received his first revelation from God & started preaching these revelations publicly proclaiming that “God is One”, hence, declaring he was a prophet and messenger of God.

MUSLIMS AROUND THE WORLD

What a brilliant story! To come up with such a perceptive wisdom in those days, he, Jesus and Buddha ought to be commended & admired for their ingenuity. However, the prophet's teaching was considered sanctimoniousness or a self-fulfilling prophesy. Although, he gained few early followers, he met with hostility from some Meccans where he was born and to escape the persecution, history indicates, he sent some followers to Abyssinia, present-day Ethiopia, where Muslims & Christians lived together with no enmity, before he and his followers migrated from Mecca to Medina, the two oldest Saudi Arabian Cities.

The faith of Islam arrived in Ethiopia at an early date, shortly before the hijira (Arabic) –is the migration or journey of the prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Yathrib, later renamed by him, Medina.

THE HIJRA

So, it’s the method that humans pontificate religions or statement of beliefs that gives it its specific serving characters in place to place, community to community, tradition to tradition, cultural groups to groups, hence the considerable diversity that exists among the followers of all religions.

Spirituality means something different to everyone. For some, it's about participating in organized religion –going to a church, synagogue, mosque, and so on. For others, it's more personal, some people get in touch with their spiritual side through private prayer, yoga, meditation, quiet reflection, or even long walks.

Recently, there is a tremendous shift in all societies, unlike the past, to abate or terminate believing or practicing any religion by dedicating their time and money.

If everyone’s God is the same, then why many Religions?

An absolute transformation of society’s adoption of self-development, consciousness, self-actualization and mindfulness living, has created a more concrete, alternative and acceptable lifestyle free of all the difficulties that emanates at a cost.

I hope my story of the dark side of various intrinsic and extrinsic beliefs will illuminate valuable lessons in your emotional & spiritual journey in life and will serve as testament to the idea that all of us, no matter where we come from, what we believe in or what we do, are trying to make sense of the human experience and live an enriching and more fulfilling life without the need to pressure one another against the beliefs or actions of our/other's choice.

I suggest, therefore, that we reclaim the basic notion that a compassionate, ethical, and interesting human being doesn't need to be either religious or spiritual. He just needs to be human. Yes, humanist, as in someone who is trying to live up to the best of what humanity can be.

Nonetheless, we all have the choice to believe in anything and any divinity of our choosing.

Please, make no mistake that I’m in no disbelief attempting to embroil myself in transgression and demonstrate a rationalistic view to get anyone worked up, but I, certainly, dare to be different and disagree, realistically, with anything and everything that is impractical, unjustified and predestined for denunciation.      

Most of all, understand me that unlike “some” religious fundamentalists and atheists, as much as I have the freedom to express my own understanding and analysis’, I’m in no way condescending to other people’s choices and their religious practices.

LET’S ALL HAVE A HAPPY ENDING!

WE WANT CHANGE & TOLERANCE not VENGEANCE

The Member States of WHO elected an Ethiopian, Dr. Tedros Adhanom, as the new Director General of WHO on May 23, 2017, in Geneva.

Dr. Tedros is expected to start his work on July 1, 2017, for five year term.

Prior to his election, Dr. Tedros served as Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2012–2016 and as Minister of Health from 2005–2012. He has also served as chair of the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; as chair of the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership Board; and as co-chair of the Board of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.

After reading and viewing all his credentials, I couldn’t help but consciously driven to write the changes needed if we have to move forward without political partisan gerrymandering, feeling envious, jealous of our own blood to take the world stage making as all proud.

Let’s not forget how far we’ve come and what changes and progresses we’ve made bearing in mind our repressive past and still more work to do trying to convince old school oppositions & remnants of the past that have lost their status and hierarchies reluctant to tolerate successive changes.

Considering our past tyrannical systems of government, the current one is angel in disguise & fairly better than the way things were and the only problem is people are not used to changes, playing denigrating and mistreating strategies of any elected governing ethnic elites and any future successive leaders will face the same fate if society doesn’t change.

From my own observation, Dr. Tedros really deserve a better treatment from his own Ethiopian people to be elected to any position, let alone to the world’s highest office.

Our old habits can get so deeply engrained in us that they affect our body and mind at a cellular or organizational level. We sometimes experience depressive feelings not caused by anyone or environmental events that happens around us but by our own emotional reactions as a result of distorted thinking.

We label people with different personalities if they don’t fit our expectations, but the fact is acceptance is the key to let everyone be themselves.

We often send our messages in the way we know how, our own way, not in the way others welcome it; nevertheless, receivers often forget the messages come with good intentions & genuine advice before filtering it in their own thoughts and react badly.

Our knowledge isn’t generally the driver of behavior. We often don’t do what we should do because of inattention, apathy, avoidance, fear, being too busy, confronting an unsupportive environment, a negative attitude or habit or routine without being labelled a pushover. 

It is said that those who do not learn from past mistakes are doomed to repeat it. Many mistakes and errors have been committed by successive habits in the past. These mistakes need to be identified, studied and lessons drawn from them so that they will not be repeated again. We need to build collective agenda to advance and support these mistakes and undertake not to repeat them.

We cannot transform our country without first educating, inspiring and transforming our people to the level that requires understanding, mutual respect and endeavor to unfold the bondage of ignorance and evil governance that capitalizes on our negligence to become informed and ready to defend collectively, as living organism of habitat do, to the perpetual continuity of our existence as Ethiopians. –Tesfaye Aman

If there is one thing I detest and reject in the Diaspora Ethiopians, it is political bluffing, power mongering, egos and self-promotion/centeredness and hypocrisy. Breaking up, narrow group think, personality worships, nepotism, arrogance, enviousness, hidden agendas, one group trying to undermine the other and so on will not advance the common cause and or respond to the unity of our future new breed of Ethiopians especially the youths.

Playing the ethnic card game is to fall victim to destructive identity politics that breeds division, hatred, conflict, and cynicism.

The process of unifying people is difficult and the road to unity is often littered with the debris of historical grievances, animosity and resentment.

We seem to throw stones at each other from far away physically hitting no one but emotionally affecting all of us, doing so with no clear evidences of criticisms or offering solutions to any comments being made by anyone who is contributing alternative opinion to solve the ongoing problem. 

This is just my observation of our academics’, celebrities, and disgruntled old monarchy sympathizers reacting in an unanticipated disrespectful manner. Instead of rebutting about any remarks with evidences in a valued manner customary to our culture, throwing condemnations based on emotions leaving the subject matter unresolved. I don’t want to give examples of those articles or issues as it serves no purpose but create more divisions. You will know next time you read some of the commentaries online.

It seems our ego (sense of self) has taken over our conscience. It’s shame that we simply don’t acknowledge or appreciate anything because that threatens our intellectual territory. This shame can lead us to deny or reject the simplest act of sharing, gratitude and validation of somebody else’s thoughtful concepts.

When we let our ego convince us that we have done no wrong and instead of repent begin to justify our actions, then we have chosen a state of denial over truth, flesh over Spirit. If we consciously war against our conscience, refuse to repent, ask for forgiveness and doing the right thing, choosing rather to justify our actions by whatever theory we can come up with allowing our ego to defeat our conscience.

Change is about striving to go beyond our limitations and create something better both in our personal lives and collectively to eliminate or even lessen pain and sorrow from our and other’s life without reservation by relinquishing our inner resistance to take positive action and transform or discover something profoundly new without resignation.

We need to remember that if we can’t think greater than how we feel, we can never change.

We might choose to go to war with our morality and reassure ourselves with our ego by saying… it was not my fault, I was born this way, it is genetic, my father or mother was this way, I was abused as a child, God made me to act this way…, it is a way of life – all men or women do this, everybody is doing it and so forth.

The list of excuses we might come up with abounds, every time we justify our sinful actions, it seems our ruthless ego (opinion of ourselves) has defeated our humane conscience to value somebody else’s good thoughts.

Don’t get me wrong, you probably have seen it or sensed this action was taking place and there is nothing negative about telling the truth, “Nothing but the truth”, rather than pretend and act as everything is hunky-dory.

We have all changed in some way or another and seen some of those changes either for good or otherwise, helping us or affecting our interactions since the opening of information exchanges in a multitude of social media outlets.

I, for one, certainly, have noticed how the interactions motivated some of my friends and the social media users to reinvent themselves unlike others who have been overwhelmed by the wave of changes in methodological networking or communications and apparently withdrew indefinitely or coyly remain as a silent passenger.

Remember, we may not have the prestige of celebrities, the power of Pope or all other academic luminaries, but our differences of opinion and stories are unique and equally valued, effective and say something no one has imagined before. Thumbs up and hats off to those of you for being resilient to care and share to disseminate what will be pivotal information for everyone and also send my hearty message to those coyly pals to absorb all as much as they can and explain their cherished side of story. All we need is to improvise our thoughts to change.

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite." Long Walk to Freedom - Nelson Mandela

As Obama time after time stated in several of his deliveries, “change takes time”, it’s time for us to take responsibility for our own predicaments.

Obama clearly told African leaders on the future of Africans: “We must start from the simple premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans. I say this knowing full well the tragic past that has sometimes haunted this part of the world. I have the blood of Africa within me, and my family’s own story encompasses both the tragedies and triumphs of the larger African story. …”

“Development depends upon good governance. That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long. That is the change that can unlock Africa’s potential. And that is a responsibility that can only be met by Africans. … “Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions….”

We all need to do our share without expecting others, especially, when there is no, basically, convincing, charismatic and negotiating leader, except those yearning for power, that we all fully and undoubtedly support to take the chair.

The realities today are different than they were five, ten or twenty years ago. Aligning one’s thinking and actions with the changing times (realities) and circumstances is a sign of wisdom and humane maturity.

Today, it’s not enough to create change at the level of symptoms and structures. We need to work even more deeply to change the underlying paradigms of thought and to connect with our deeper sources of creativity and self.

Failure can be turned into an opportunity to learn and grow. I say it can, because it requires a particular attitude to benefit from our failure. Without that mentality, all our failures will go to waste. This is true in political affairs as it is in personal life for a leader as well as a follower. So, what is that mentality?

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” –Albert Einstein

It is our mentality that is willing and able to reflect on past experiences – past actions and their outcomes. It is only through such reflections that one learns one’s strengths, weaknesses and the environment and conditions in which actions were undertaken and what could have been done differently that could have resulted in a positive outcome. It is not enough to admit collective failure. One needs to evaluate one’s role in the failure. This is even more so if one is a leader under whose watch an organization – business or political – failed. Denying (to oneself and others) failures and personal accountability and scapegoating or blaming on someone will not do. Leaders without such a mentality cannot educate themselves from past failures and therefore deserve no second chance to continue doing the same thing over and over again and again.

I pay my indelible gratitude to all the people that I have been in contact with, past and present, friends and families, regardless of their academic standing or status, who and what they are. As a result, I have gained a great deal of knowledge and extensive experiences dealing with the downtrodden and my intention is not to use over them and you, but to share it with them and you so that we all can see we have the same aspirations and desires on our life’s journey and I’m contributing my insight to empower all of us and loved ones for a safe ride.

Opportunity is not universal. Those of us who have it must endeavor to appreciate the great responsibility that accompanies it.

I want this story for society to change, to challenge our own behaviors and who we are as a society and what is expected of us to live as a cohesive society and ask you to join the journey to a better and habitable lifestyle.

Therefore, WE WANT CHANGE & TOLERANCE not VENGEANCE. (ስለዚህ፣ ቂም በቀል ሳይሆን  ለውጥና ትዕግስት  እንፈልጋለን።)

TIME FOR CHANGE

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has demanded why the ABC didn't fire Yassmin Abdel-Magied for her Anzac Day posted comments about a condition she identified, equally, heart wrenching. 

Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Sudanese-Australian, who simply exercised her freedom of speech by posting, "Lest we Forget (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine)", on ANZAC DAY, which she, probably, coerced to apologize or face the consequences, quickly deleted the post soon after, but the comments continued to gather significant criticism from indifferent people across the country with her apology sinking in deaf ears.

As a global citizen, she was entranced by her resilient responsibility and overwhelmed by zealous compassion for those suffering in detention centres and screaming out to awaken public support. So, honestly and pragmatically, it’s up to us to listen to the message without slaying the messenger.
The ABC and most people did not believe she should lose her job because of her, concern, open minded, not eyebrow rising, but eye opening comments.
In a healthy democratic country like ours, there is no limit to free speech and those ANZAC soldiers sacrificed their life for the very ideals of freedom to live our lives peacefully and speaking up without any intimidations and bullying. 
             
If Yassmin was Caucasian (white), not Muslim, not black woman, not different race, and so forth, her comments wouldn’t have attracted so much media and attention full of hate.
If I sound harsh and uncompromising in my disagreement, it is a reflection of the level of my frustration and I kindly ask readers to take it as an honest expression of an emotional appeal to empathize before you dehumanize me as well.
Also, we must, always, remember that every difference of opinion & ideology is not a difference of principle and shouldn’t be construed as a personal vendetta and should be discussed or expressed with respect –demo-cracy.

We can see that world consciousness is shifting into a new dimension and the old rules no longer apply. As many struggle to move from disbeliefs and old mindsets over the political events of 2016 such as with the election of Donald trump, Pauline Hanson’s return to the senate, the balance of power between the US, Russia and China, the current race for nuclear war between the US and North Korea looks set to shift in ways we probably can’t even imagine, to a growing acceptance that change is inevitable, we can choose to prepare for the next phase and create a fresh space full of new possibilities or we can bury our heads in the sand or we can sit and wait hoping everything will change without our efforts.

If you look at your own life and the lives of those around you, you will see many things have been transformed over the past couple of years. For some possessions, titles and status have become less important while the true value of friendship, integrity, love and compassion have been greatly realized.
For those feeling apprehensive about the future, on either a personal or global level, consider that, universally, we are living through a period that closely parallels with the events of the late 1960s, a time of massive social change, explosive creativity and innovation that paved the way for the great environmental, feminist and social justice movements of the 1970s.

But life moves in spirals, not circles, and this time round we have the exponential power of the internet and social media to share our knowledge, power, ideas and creativity. Together we can create miracles and play pivotal parts to change what we can in our enduring journey.  
The way of doing things have changed since the16^th and 17^th century, even since the recent 20^th. People (some) are aware of those changes, especially, those who have been through all kinds of turmoils, dominations and persecutions except those who have missed the powers.
Churchill once told the Palestine Royal Commission in 1937, "I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place."

That was long time ago. I don’t blame Churchill and all domineers; he was talking with brain and dominating time of that era. We’re reading a different book now. There is no going back to those ancient rationales, caves, fires, killings … anymore.

Today, starting now, we all need to change the way we do all our life enhancing businesses and stop being irritable about the people who are doing things in a very diverse way than us. “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” –Albert Einstein

I think, make no mistake, Australia’s freedom of speech, values, privileges and way of life is downright at risk. What do you think?

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools” –Martin Luther King Jr.

Think of the huge destruction of war by elite egomaniacs of the 21^st century.