No Condition is Permanent. Our dark hours will also be no more.

By Teodros Kiros Associate Professor Liberal Arts
Tigrai Online, June 25, 2019

No condition is permanent as are our Ethiopian dark hours.

At this point of uncertainty, however, hard it is to think coolly and rationally, we must for the sake of our historic land, the first home of the human species, use our public reason to assess the several scenarios which produced the tragedy in our midst, the death of our heroes: the extraordinary Ethiopian, General Seare Mekonnen, respected and loved by all: retired General Abera Gezae; Dr. Gemachew Mekonnen and his adviser; the state attorney-general wounded and all those unnamed soldiers who are wounded and dead. The list is tragically long and the pain deep and scarring.

Speculations are now pervading the streets of Ethiopian cities and towns.

There are those who think that the Eritrean strong man who is dead set to eliminate the last remnants of Woyannes must have sent his spies to do the work in Addis, since he has now been given free doors to enter and leave as he wishes. Addis is now his new home where he has the Prime Minister’s ears.

Advertisement

Some are more ambitious. They think that the tragedy in Bahir Dar, under the well-orchestrated leadership of Brigadier General Asaminew Tsige, were not merely overthrowing a regional state, but were aiming at overthrowing the Abiy regime, and replace it with their own. Bahir Dar was a stepping stone. The final destiny was the Palace itself.

There are many others. I chose these two as classical speculations.

Whatever the reasons are, which will unravel soon, we Tigrean Ethiopians must remain collected, still, and as always loving and gallant, patient and determined to defend our dignity. All those who died, are children of God, and they must be remembered as such. We must be both strategic and ethical, ready to fight if we must, and willing to forgive and think anew about the future by engaging our moral imagination and our spirituality.

Advertisement

The deaths at Bahir Dar and Addis belong to us all and we must grief collectively and deeply at churches, mosques, home and work places. These tragedies at these dark hours must give us the courage to think in new ways to save our historic nation and safeguard our Ethiopianity, and forge a New Ethiopia on the historic foundations of Ethiopianity.

When unreason saturates our existence at this time, we must use our public reason and stand on the firmament in the sky. When anger inclines us to celebrate the deaths our enemies, we must instead feel sorry for the haters by treating them with loving kindness and mourn with them at this dark hour.

Let public reason prevail. This too will pass. This too, like life itself, is impermanent. Let us all pray to God to give us the patience not to hate, but to love all those who have wronged us and displaced our people. We must pray to God to empower us to bear our sorrow without hating. As Michele Obama, famously said, when they go low we must go high.