ARE YOU AN ETHIOPIAN PATRIOT OR OUR ENEMIES CADRE?

ARE YOU AN ETHIOPIAN PATRIOT
OR OUR ENEMIES CADRE?

3 November, 2009 | Capt. Woldemikael Dagnachew

If You Are A Cadre, Stop Reading This Hereafter!

“What do we mean by patriotism in the context of our times?
I venture to suggest that what we really mean is a sense of
national responsibility: a patriotism, which is not too short,
frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil & steady
dedication of a lifetime for us all”. - (Adlai Stevenson).

Dear readers, “The

best way to find

yourself is to lose

yourself in the

service of others”

said Mahatma

Gandhi? “We are

not building this

country of ours for a

day, it is to last

through the ages”

remarked Theodore Roosevelt too? Why? To be patriotic is to be
inspired by the love for one’s Motherland, love of one’s Birthplace
and complete devotion to its safety and protection. Life is born,
sustained upon and from the land on which we lived. We were
brought into life by birth and keep on going by the land on which
most of us deprive to live in since the Derg and Woyane came in
and ruled the country by brute forces. One of life’s essential
support systems is water, sustained and held on land and housed
within land’s cavities on which we live. Life is sustained by Air,
which rises from the sea waters housed on the land on which we
live. Therefore, I ask you Fellow Ethiopians, is it not really an act of
Patriotism, to love and protect our Motherland and/or our
environment for that matter too? Freedom and Living Free have a
direct coalition with health and healthy environment. The alliance
between being Patriotic and being an Environmentalist is one of the
secret bonds, which ensures freedom and prosperity for all in any
country. The very honest and good patriotic people are those who
think globally and act locally, with the goal of a clean Planet Earth
for all. We are a family of the world but first and foremost we are
obliged to save ETH.

Hence to be patriotic is not to wear an Ethiopian flag or scream
symbolic hollow gestures like Long Live Ethiopia on the streets and
on political podiums all the time. We have very corrupt, criminal
and unpatriotic individuals who selfishly and purposely destroyed
our environment by driving gas-guzzling SUV trucks and dumping
chemical, biological and nuclear wastes into the land, water and air,
all of which are essential life sustaining ingredients that we need for
survival. Based on the above definition of patriotism, it won’t be
that difficult to find one’s place in today’s world and define oneself
as a true patriot. Are you a patriot? President Lyndon B. Johnson,
upon signing The Wilderness Act of 1964 said, “If future
generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt,
we must leave them something more than the miracles of our
technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in
the beginning, not just after we got through with it”. That in a sense
is true patriotism, which is expected of us too? So, are we going to
leave a good legacy for the next generation of Ethiopians or only
fighting each other to fill our bid, greedy (Hodam) bellies as the late
Professor Asrat rightly put it and all our other very selfish and
greedy desires while robbing the poor Ethiopian taxpayers, farmers
and looting the nation’s wealth? As Kahlil Gibran once said too, are
you a politician or an individual really, who says to himself or
herself, “I will use my country for my own benefit” or die for it if
and when necessary?

Or are you a devoted patriot, who whispers in your inner self and
says, “I love to serve my country as a faithful servant?” C’mon,
stop telling me utter lies: you could not even sign a petition that
others created, let alone serve mother Ethiopia? Each Ethiopian
must for himself and she alone decide what is right and what is
wrong in life, which course is really true patriotism and which isn’t.
You cannot shirk this and be a man or a woman. And of course, an
Ethiopian too? Oh, no you can’t. “A thoughtful mind, when it sees a
Nation’s flag, sees not the flag only, but the Nation itself; and
whatever may be its symbols, its insignia, he reads chiefly in the flag
the Government, the principles, the truths, the history which belongs
to the Nation that sets it forth” said, Henry Ward Beecher from The
American Flag. But when Meles Zenawi seized power and saw an
Ethiopian Nation’s flag, he said to the entire nation and the world,
this is “Ye-Chew Mequateria Cherq” and wanted to change it to
TPLF’s flag. That was when we were all humiliated. But did we do
anything about it? No!

Do not say you do not have enough time like some who called us
Bozene and other names for working hard to inform, educate, unite
and mobilize the public against murderers and traitors. Yes, I too
write these things not only when I am sitting in front of my PC at
work and or at home but also while travelling and even having my
meals. I only sleep 3/4 hours in 24 hours most of which spent for
my country too. Hence no matter what, you too, if you are real
patriots, have exactly the same number of working hours per day
that were given by God to me, and Helen Keller, Pasteur,
Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Nelson
Mandela, Thomas Jefferson & Albert Einstein. Yes, Kelib
Kaleqesu Enba Ayigedm therefore, cut down watching rubbish and
brainwashing foreign videos, dirty movies, gallivanting around
Mesheta Bet and give five minutes to pray or work for your
country. Also, Enqilf Atwudedu … Lewusham Minim
Alteqematimna? “We have the power to change our world. It is not
an issue of whether or not can we make a difference. The truth is
that we do make a difference. Everything we do, say, and think
shapes our reality. It is time that we join our bodies, minds, hearts,
spirits, and voices and call for peace on the Earth and peace with
the Earth. Please get involved in whatever ways you can, but
please, do it now. The legacy of all life depends on it”. That good
remark was by Julia “Butterfly” Hill. Ethiopians need it too now
than before.

Hence patriotism is a complex and sometimes controversial subject.
People have different ideas about what it is and how to express it.
My own concept of patriotism used to be rather narrow: Love of
my country Ethiopia, be a good citizen, enjoy our culture, food, and
traditional patriotic music. But patriotism is much broader than that.
Therefore, most people think that patriotism is a virtue. Or at least,
that’s what’s suggested by a quick glance at the political world and
the popular media in very many countries around the world. Most
politicians too are particularly keen to be regarded as patriotic.
Never the less, I think that many politicians would rather be called
cowardly, selfish or corrupt than patriotic or unpatriotic. And in
everyday life, it seems as though you’re usually offering a
compliment when you call someone a patriot, and as though
patriotism is usually thought of as something that we should
wholeheartedly foster in our children and ourselves all the time.
Patriotism, in the popular imagination, may not quite rank alongside
kindness, justice, temperance and the like, but in a true sense, it’s a
virtue nonetheless; it’s a character trait that the ideal person would
possess. Unfortunately, all too many Ethiopians these days,
continued to put their blind faith in the political parties, believing that
their officials, like pagan Gods, know what’s best for the Ethiopian
people and are only acting in their best interests. Hence what we
need in our country is a great awakening, in which the Ethiopian
people realize the fake, false, and destructive goods they’ve been
fed by these selfish & flirting politicians. That will be the day when
Ethiopians cause our nation to change course away from
backwardness, division & perpetual conflicts and move in the
direction of liberty, peace, democracy, prosperity, and harmony. If
that can be done, our country does have a unique place in human
history. We have done a lot of harm, but when we have done that
harm we have betrayed the vision of the nation. We have also done
a lot of good, because the visions that our forefathers and ancestors
had for men and women and children are still inspiring the Ethiopian
people all over the world, and they should be inspiring us now in
our time of crisis too? We have a right and obligation as patriotic
Ethiopians to defend our vision of Ethiopia, not as a strategic or
expedient vision, but as our vision. And consider the example of the
United States of America. What makes it this big nation remarkably
united in spite of being composed of such diverse peoples? So, are
we patriots or nationalists? They are two different things.

But be careful too all Ethiopian brothers & sisters, because people
resent feeling pressured to conform to someone else’s brand of
patriotism. Yes, people are hurt by the wrong and or boasting kind
of judgmental finger pointing: If your ways are not like my ways, or
your political views are not like mine too, you are unpatriotic. As
Robert F. Kennedy once said, “What we need in Ethiopia too, is
not division; what we need in Ethiopia is not hatred; what we need
in Ethiopia is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom,
peace and compassion toward one another, patriotism and a feeling
of justice toward those who still suffer within our country”. That is it.
As they say, true patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than
anywhere else. A patriot is proud of his country in a benign sense in
that he respects it. Patriots are devoted to causes greater than
themselves. For the patriot, love of his or her country is like love of
family-involving caring, devotion and affection. An Ethiopian
nationalist may claim to love his country primarily because it is the
best country in the world. Each patriotic leader was passionate
about helping to save his country, especially from captivity and
destruction. Jesus Christ, too, was a Patriot. He said, “Greater love
has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends”
(John 15:13). That was exactly what Jesus did. True Ethiopian
patriotism and even nationalism includes “tough and true love”, a
willingness to warn people of the disastrous consequences of
continuing in their evil ways. Patriotism is love of and devotion to
your country Ethiopia and willingness to sacrifice for it too.
Otherwise, contempt for one’s own country is sin and treason. “A
house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government
cannot endure permanently half slave and half free”. said Abraham
Lincoln. Therefore, let’s fight our enemies’ cadres as patriots. Let
us expose all the wolves in sheep’s skins and confront them.

Capt. Woldemikael Dagnachew. The author can be reached
at yaabbelraha@yahoo.com.

..Courtesy