Soul's Wisdom

I may not be the first to see glaringly clear that the popularity of the infant democracy has waned in Ethiopia even before it has flourished enough. In fact, this trend seems to be consistent throughout the passing years. Sadly, the other African nations, who were in a similar path of flourishing are also seen choosing the same downward movement. People, especially the young, in this country, seem to have become severely myopic and intolerant with one another in this process of building democracy. Instead of trying to analyze the facts from the factoids, they simply label people based on a totally irrelevant yardstick. I don't want to blame them as they learned this from their predecessors. Let me give you an instance: if one comments on any nationwide issue or a politician’s speech in a social media, (s)he’s to be immediately pigeon-holed. (S)he would NOT be evaluated based on the merits of his/her suggested ideas, but rather on whose race or creed, or color (s)he belongs to. The...

While reading Jimmy L.Lyson's poem, entitled ' Left Out in the Cold', I was touched by his deep anxiety, and wanted to sympathize with him for his mental incarceration - and I did. I believe that his inability to say or do what he wanted to do (although he was 'free') makes anyone feel similarly towards him. He admitted that he wanted to "remove the sting" which I thought was a stain of the past, and yet, he" was left out in the cold" - and he could have been. But then, while I was deep floating in his thoughts, I was suddenly struck by his words "...wanting to claim some of God's power and glory". My sympathy had suddenly turned to anger and took his words as if they came out in a state of delusion. I asked myself, 'If he really believes in God's power and glory, why shouldn't he be "brave and bold" to "sing" as he claimed he was?' I was mystified. I reread his poem in order to suck more thoug...

Today’s public discourse both in the mainstream and the social media clearly shows a major shift of pattern –a consistent one. Society’s perspectives on its former values, education and life, in general, has drastically changed. Why not? Time has changed where democracy seems to hold grip everywhere giving unconditional freedom for people to be who they want to be (gender wise and professionally), do whatever they want to do without restraint; living conditions have greatly improved and consequently life span has increased; the young seem to start having family of its own sooner than before, making the population boom all across the globe; society’s educational level has fully-fledged in such a way that everyone seems to be able to earn different academic degrees and titles from the various educational institutes; technology has advanced and made the world closer enough, and even the miraculous invention of nanotechnology paved ways to remedies for all societies’ odds and ills includ...

There are many local media reporting trespasses I can generally tolerate, but I am always uneasy when people's titles are unnecessarily and repeatedly referred to in the news. Take Mr. Bekele who may just be a civil engineer by profession but works as a CEO for a company and yet reported by the news as 'Engineer Bekele said this and that'. This is superflous because what's relevant and primary to most of us at first is to know that he is the CEO and what's said by him regading the issue at hand as an authoritative individual. Secondly, his being the CEO of the company is much higher and appropriate than his educational title. Thirdly, the word 'Engineer' is not a title like Dr., Prof., Mr., Miss, or Rev. (That's a thought for another piece of writing) Afterall, if the intention of the report is to communicate what the company he runs and what he says regarding the issue at hand, why do we redundantly refer to him as Engineer Bekele? In fact, it's i...

Have you lately been bewildered like me by the people whom you think you knew, but turn out that you don’t? Or a situation and life’s encounter which you think you knew how to handle but you actually don’t know how to manage at all? What would you do when you have a mixed feeling of deep fear as well as tidbits of hope on what is about to happen in the near future as a result of these? And let me take you deeper - perhaps when you find yourself in darkness and, yet despite that, you see some rays of light at what seems to be the end of the tunnel? When some seem to sing war-songs and others’ rhetoric appear to brag normality as if nothing happened? And in the midst of all these, you find yourself standing alone or at times taken by the whim unwillingly. I don’t know about you but I pray to make my faith BIGGER and hope for BETTER rather than being immersed in the imminent danger and fear that clouds the air. It always reminds me of the Biblical Habakkuk’s words”Even though the fig tr...

Life offers us full of choices. Isn't that awesome? Some are easy ones and, hence, we could make quick good decisions. However, there are other choices in life which are complex and require us to contend for some time to reach one. For some of the decisions to be made, trading off may be needed. From choosing toys (for kids) to opting for a spouse, or one's career, or whether to live the rest of one's lives in a foreign country (for adults), all choices require our decisions. At this information age, making choices and moving on with our lives seems increasingly difficult - with almost all types of choices available physically or virtually. In fact, most often the trend appears to blatantly make our choices open indefinitely, even for the ones we consider easy choices. Have we become cautious and risk-averters, and probably 'wiser'? When I was a boy, like many of my age at that time, I remember I used to be asked by family (or friends of the family) to choose bet...

The renowned British PM Winston Churchill served his nation most critically in wartime,during which artful lying, called disinformation, was a common strategy. He once said, "In wartime, truth is so precious that she (truth) should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies." I think this is not only true for wartime but for anytime these days. Everyone, including the formerly reliable sources of news, seem to take lying as commonplace phenomenon. Service providers lie far beyond what their services could ever give to their customers; products are no more what they boast in their cover stories. In fact, most of them, to our shock, are providing the contrary. We all know that ads are often hypes, but these which I refer to, go well beyond one's imagination. Businesspersons have become so greedy in faking original products using hazardous ingredients risking their own people merely for being criminally prosperous. People in government often lie in the pretext of "nation...

The Ethiopian political landscape has tremendously changed ...for the better, not to return to the previous sad years anymore...or at least not in any way as it used to be, God willing. However, change of any sort may not always be easy as we might often think. Sometimes we naively consider the changes that are undergoing around us as if it won't require our roles. This is not only wrong but devastating. As Bill Clinton once said, "The price of doing one and the same old thing is far higher than the price of change." The past experience we had gave us no opportunities to willingly partake in any kind of nation-building activities. Now we are in a different epoch in our history, where everyone of us (I, you and all citizens) are voluntarily and responsibly called to do our each part in the nation-building process. In order to be beneficiary as one nation, we all need to aggressively be part of the undergoing changes. Who said that "He who rejects change is the archit...

The past weeks and month was literally a unique time in the history of Ethiopian politics...unless you're purely pessimistic, of course. Lots of changes, some of which drastic ones, have been taken in the transitioning to the new leadership. Apart from the public relations campaign, which I beleive was fundamental in its own way, I for one, have started proudly praising my PM's speech, most of which could be quotable quotes in their own sake. I have really become proud of being Ethiopian again after so many years of shame and silence. I don't want to delve in depth what the new PM has achieved so far, but remain optimistic that he along with other leadership, would, God willing, bring about great results. Optimism is the foundation of courage, they say. I pray that God bless Ethiopians and Ethiopia in the years ahead. It's indeed a new chapter.

We all know that hair is an outer expression of culture and heritage. It’s true that apart from being an image of personal elegance, most of our contemporary hair styles that are donned by folks in Ethiopia are not merely reflections of fashion. They run deeper than sheer craze. In other words, the hairstyles we see at present, be it those of gentlemen, ladies, or children are all intensely ingrained in our past. A two-hour or so drive north, south , east or west Ethiopia will depict this fact, as you will be able to witness the numerous hairstyles of women and men. However, today’s piece deals with solely the one that is still very popular and trendy no less than it was in the earlier era – the shuruba. Shuruba is one of them and is a kind of hairstyle that puts on plaits tightly braided to the head and fuzzing out at the shoulders. Originating in the northern part of Ethiopia, shuruba, used to be hairstyles shared by both men and women, and to this day, people in all quarters of the...

This was, in fact, an article which I wrote immediately after the death of one of the iconic leaders of the world - Nelson Mandella. Like many others who honored the leader, this was my small token for this great man who left a lasting legacy of leadership. However, the crucal lesson this honorable man left for us to learn was timeless and I guess it's also very timely to the current Ethiopian political landscape. President Mandela clearly showed us how forgiveness and reconciliation generates leadership excellence. Leave alone a man who was tormented and persecuted for such a long time, we, as lay professionals, who might or might not have undergone a fraction of what he had endured find it hard to forgive who bestows us severe harm. Despite being one of the core values of many cultures and Christianity, we often abysmally fail in practicing forgiveness and reconciliation. Some of us grew up being told to take this amazing gesture on a daily basis, but we refrain from showing it ...

My recent roundtable encounter with a couple of line managers and a CEO of a company has prompted me to write this article. In response to one of the straight forward manager's reports, the CEO suddenly blurted, "I know you've tried your best but your best didin't yield any fruit." (From his careful wording and vivid body language, I felt that the CEO was mocking at the manager's integrity as he was unable to generate the expected financial returns, perhaps at the cost of deception, rather than reporting to him such a "ludicrous" monetary benefits). Our experience with the real world reveals that leaders undergo stormy periods as well as several zenith epochs. Both of these times are expected to be momentous chapters from which all ought to learn a great deal. I believe successful leaders are measured not merely on their discernible efficacious outcomes; rather the litmus test for them is how they manage and react to the inescapable failure. While th...

Making changes in any aspect of our lives is not always easy be it in our personal life styles, groups or organizations, even if we have some kind of institutional influence on our pals or colleagues. However, it's crucial as we move on in our lives.This is not becuase our former routine ways of doing things were, as such, found to be dismal, but there are always ways to make them better as they're far from being perfect. Of course the changes we want to make, added to the unforseen future circumstances, cannot often generate all the results we anticipate. In fact, at times the changes we made can even go to the reverse way and may have counter repurcussions, and hence, could affect the pace of our journey. However, I believe these should not deter us from reaching the destination we are heading to. With faith and good intention we can fine-tune our strategies and reach our goal in style. Some people told me that this is being duplicitous on the one who made the changes in the ...

As we began the New Year, every one of us (unless some of us deliberately hushed) vow to ourselves and others to become better than we were the previous year. Some become vocal and say they’re determined to put off some weight (I being in this group); others resolutely pledge to learn new skills; still others pledge to become like someone they always considered a model. Sadly, though, at the end of the year most of us often regret for not doing anything we aspired to accomplish 365 days ago. Most experts in this field suggest we do a little on a daily basis, despite our seemingly discouraging first moves. Accept that being better than you were yesterday is a process and not a one-time product. They remind us that we still have 360 or so days and should not be discouraged by the efforts we exert the very first consecutive days. Stay focused and persevere in doing whatever you can, but don’t give in. You’ll surely get unexpected feat by the end of the year, and become better than you ...

I t seems to me that as we move towards the 21st century, calling a spade a spade to practically any i ssues, among other earlier virtues, are mocked at or considered obsolete by the present-day society. Rather than speaking the truth or facing the reality, it appears that giving deaf ears or else conforming /fitting in/ to the false/fake/ status qua is taken as the right approach to deal with everything, especially if the issue concerns a person or group, or someone in the highest hierarchy of the government, church or any other office. What’s more funny is that those who boldly encounter the truth are jeered at. But what should be known is that regardless of technology or the speed of innovation, people are people and continue to uphold virtues such as standing by the truth, as timeless. George Orwell says “the further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those that speak it.” That's why I say here let’s approach the truth boldly and lovingly and not see it as ‘norma...