By Belayneh Abate
Virtue is among many of our indispensable national treasures that the immature rulers have been destroying for the last 33 years. Without exaggeration, we can claim that Ethiopia was one of the very few countries where society has been practicing virtue from cradle to grave. Since the children of traitors took the palace, they have been disrupting this five- thousand years old virtue and replacing it with vice.
It has been our forefathers’ tradition to teach their children about virtue through religious teachings and cultural tales. Virtue and Vice have been also parts of the Greek mythologies.
In the ancient Greece, there was a person called Hercules who was the son of the king of gods. When Hercules was passing from boyhood to youth estate, he started to contemplate his future life path. During his continuous contemplation, he was confronted with two goddesses. One of these goddesses was a very glamorous and artificially made beautiful woman and the other one was plain dressed and humble and naturally beautiful woman.
One day, the glamours woman dressed up with all the make ups and approached Hercules. Looking at him with a seductive gaze, she said to him, “Hercules, I see that you are confused about which path to take towards your future life. I urge you to make me your friend! If you follow me, I guarantee you that I will show you the shortest and easiest way to success and happiness. I will make sure that your tongue will always taste the sweet, your eyes always see delight, your nose aways smell perfumes, and your ears always hear pleasant voices. If your enemies envy you and open wars against you, I will show you miracles to defeat them instantly. After listing the glamorous woman attentively, Hercules asked “what is your name lady?”. The woman answered, “my friends call me Happiness, but those who hate me call me KAKIA.
In another day, Hercules talked to the humble and naturally beautiful woman, and she said to him that she could be his friend but the path with her will not be easy. She stressed that living with her will require hard work and it will take very long time to arrive to success and happiness. She emphasized that he could face many hardships perhaps more than any other man ever existed had experienced. She warned him that he may experience great loss and he could be subjected to unimaginable suffering. After listing her with passion, he asked her who her name was, and she answered her name is ARETE.
After deep contemplation and prayer, Hercules chose ARETE over KAKIA. Soon after, he was tasted by Apollo, one of the Greek gods as she warned him. For example, he was ordered to kill a lion and a poisonous snake which were terrorizing society, and he did kill them successfully.
The interpretation of the ARETE and KAKIA allegory is that Hercules achieved this success not because of his physical strength, but because he chose and followed the path with ARETE.
The same can be said about the success of our forefathers. They were successful to defend their freedom and the sovereignty of their nations for five thousand years, not because they had superior physical strength, air defense or mechanized brigade, but because they walked the path with ARETE. Since they follow the path of ARETE, their courage, determination, perseverance, and loyalty to their fellow fighters and nation was unwavering and unbreakable. Their path with ARETE helped them to stick with their cardinal axiom of give me liberty or death.
It appears most of the patriots who are currently fighting to reclaim their forefathers’ Ethiopia are walking the path with ARETE. While others hang dead bodies upside down like a slaughtered lamb and drag the burnt dead bodies on sandy streets, the FANO patriots have been treating their captives like tourists. In combat history, it is only Fanos who pay pocket money for the guns they took from their captives (who came to massacre their families) while they have the absolute right to take them for free. It is only in the neighborhood of Fanos where captives enjoy family like accommodations and wedding style feasts. It is only FANOS who provide dependable guidance and guards to their captives so that they can arrive safe to their homes and families.
It is not just a mythology but a reality that following the path of ARETE will lead to ultimate and long-lasting success. ARETE which has been a guiding life principle of our forefathers includes practical wisdom, courage, perseverance, and justice. However, there will be sufferings, pain, and losses like that of Hercules and our forefathers while walking the path of ARETE for the ultimate success. During this journey, followers of KAKIA may continue choosing displacing, torturing, burning, mutilating, and massacring innocents including women and children to achieve a short cut temporary success and blood-stained happiness. However, we shall disdain the path of KAKIA and follow the path of ARETE to reclaim our forefather’s Ethiopia.
Thank you.
The writer can be reached at abatebelai@yahoo.com
July, 2024
Hold on folks! My phone is ringing
Hello, Ittu speaking,
Hi Ittu it is me. Do you recognize me?
Yes, I’m familiar with your voice. It’s Af-Mishaar.
You got it Ittu.
Whattabe like dude?
What it is, Ittu. What it is. The reason I called you is to so you can help me vent my anger.
What happened, Af-Mishaar? Were you involved in an accident?
No, my long time friend just lost an election.
Who was that. Macron?
No. My long time friend and who I mentored for years since his days at Stanford lost the national Election. Sunak just lost the election in UK. He called me this morning to tell me how is not happy with the loss.
I heard about it. He did not just lose the election by a humiliating landslide not seen in the recent history of general election in that country. How did that happen, Af-Mishaar?
Well, he did not use the right policy for the Horn of Africa.
What is in your proposed right policy?
I told him to do everything to destroy the country I hate most?
Which one is that, Af-Mishaar?
Ethiopia. I hate that country with a passion. You know that, Ittu!
Yes, I remember you talking about it in the past. Why do you hate that country so much?
I hate it because my late uncle, Af-Weyne Ziad Barre told me to have nothing but hatred about Ethiopia.
Why? That country has Somali citizens and are being led by a very capable leader. Mustafa.
Ittu, how many times did I tell you not to mention that name? That is the person I hate most.
Why?
Because he likes working with Amharas, Oromos and lately with Tigres. I hate those three people for impunity. They don’t deserve to exist except you, Ittu. Because you will accept the new classification of Somali Abo.
Keep dreaming wise aleck.
Whatever Ittu!!! There is another loss in the works.
Which one is that, af-Mishaar?
The other leader who ignored my fire-test policy for the Horn of Africa.
Who is that?
That is Trudeau of Canada. My friendship with him goes back to the days his late father Pierre Trudeau. His father used to follow my policy to the letter.
Wow!!! You are such an expert, Af-Mishaar. You must have something else that catapulted you to the level of an expert. Can you share some of that wth me, Af-Mishaar? It will be between the boys. I will never share with anyone.
Okay. Let me put it to you this in these words. They worked like a charm for me, Ittu!
Alright, alright, Af-Mishaar. Please go ahead and tell me. You’re keeping in suspense..
Okay, here they are. Bull-s%h%i%t, attitude and experience with these two are the ones that get ahead of everyone. It has worked for me like magic for decades. Now people can not get enough of me. When there is a panel discussion, it is ‘call Af-Mishaar’ Even Macron called me every day this week. He is losing big time in the election because he was not using the policy I gave him.
It seems you don’t have privacy, Af-Mishaar.
Yes, I have none. The other day, I booked a flight to participate in a panel discussion I was invited to. I booked the entire section of the business class.
The entire business class?
Yes, Ittu. I even brought my own waitresses. Then, who do you think came to bother me?
Who, Af-Mishaar?
The captain of the flight. He came and asked me ‘Can we take off now, Mr. Af-Mishaar?
He was asking you for clearance to take off, Af-Mishaar?
Yes. I said to him ‘what are you guys doing? You should call the tower and they are the ones who are authorized to tell you when to take off. On and on. I have no privacy at all. Then when I arrived at my destination, it was all traffic jam. There were legends like Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Larry Bird in town also. But the people were there to get a glimpse of the legend above legends.
Who is that, Af-Mishaar/
Who else, Ittu? It was me. A legend above legends. They wanted to get just a glimpse of me.
Do you really believe in what you just told me, Af-Mishaar?
Yes, Ittu. Like I told you before. Bull%s%h%i%t, attitude and experience in those two is the only ones that will get you through and moving up. You throw the EEOC factor in the mix, there is nothing but going up.
Some day that is gonna catch up with you, Af-Mishaar.
Whatever, Ittu!!!
To Ittu Aba Farda- The man who hate Ethiopia & the People now is Abiy not the persons you mentioned.