I love Ethiopia! … Really? – Part II
“The men who followed Him were unique in their generation. They turned the world upside down because their hearts had been turned right side up. The world has never been the same. “Billy Graham
In part I of the “I love Ethiopia” series I attempted to inquire the exact texture of the love we claim we have for our country. We have the type of patriotism that boils our blood in the notion of protecting the mother land. Our tear bags broke loose when we watch the Teddy Afro’s Anbessa Youtube Clip . We are full of enlivened when we refer to our new year or the idea of ‘hager alegn’ slogan. It is all good!
If this burning passion of our upbringing, our communal identity, our protectiveness of the historical heritage we inherited; if this deep sense of ‘love for Ethiopia’ can’t compelled us to strive to make our Ethiopia the best and the greatest, then it is an illusion of a passive love that has no real impact aside from the ‘move-screen’ display it is being played. I used the quote “He loves his country best who strives to make it best” to make a point that our sense of love is measured by how much engaged we are in making Ethiopia the best.
Our Communal identity, in my opinion, is both our blessing and our curse. Our attachment enables us to dine together, to celebrate together, and to cry together; but it seems to lack to enable us to work together, to strive together or to envision together. It is sad but true that at times I have seen our “Ethiopian” people joining hands with our enemies in an attempt to ‘destroy’ the ruling governance. Little they know they are carelessly destroying the nation and its resource that can lift up their livelihood. An inquiry mind wants to know who has stolen their sense of right and wrong. I have no intention in supporting or denouncing governance but rather I question the motives that drive us to destroy our nation that we claim we love; I question the sincerity of bringing about pseudo-change that is not founded on collaboration or mutual growth.
Unless our heart, our mind and our world turned to “the right side up”, it will be a wishful thinking of having a love relationship with the idea of ‘our beloved Ethiopia’. When we have the right motive, we are like well equipped warriors who are determined to never stop until the beloved nation is transformed. We are willing to collaborate and pour our sweat for the betterment of our people. We are so determined not to leave behind a scrambled and a dead nation held by a thin thread of survival. We are happy about our brother’s success that we abstain putting a trap underneath his feet.
When we go beyond the “passive love of coffee shop conversation”, when we surpass the pseudo ‘die for country’ slogan that fuels corruption and separation, when we look in to the eye of our neighbor and are willing to accept him/her for who they are but not their tribal identity, when Ethiopia is tattooed in our heart beyond the three color of our flag, when our unity is more than the causes that separate us – then we can boldly say “I’m the new generation who has so much love and passion for my nation Ethiopia”!
So, do you really love Ethiopia?
