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።)
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