sarcasm wrote: ↑03 Jan 2022, 19:02
Prof. Tilahun Yilma, D.V.M., Ph.D. in USA Public University, in California, @UCDavis preaches Ethiopia must wipe-out political opposition just like cancer.
After I listened to Prof. Tilahun Yilma, I couldn't help asking if he is seriously saying those words. I hope I am wrong.
If he is serious, I can't help juxtaposing my great respect for his professional accomplishment and his evident detachment from the deep cultural values of our people, the people on whose behalf he is saying those words.
When I was a student in college in Ethiopia, there were a few people that I remember as highly accomplished Ethiopian scientists and professionals. They include Dr. Getachew Bolodia (some of us called him Dr. Getachew Boleda,) Professor Asrat Woldeyes, Dr. Aklilu Lemma, and Engineer Kitaw Ijigu. I heard about Prof. Tilahun Yilma and then Prof. Gebisa Ejeta's professional accomplishments at relatively later times but I have put them in the same class of accomplished scientists and professionals. There may be others at the same level of professional accomplishments that I haven't heard about or have forgotten at this moment.
Coming to the cultural values of our people, I often remember a statement that even the Ethiopian officer who later became a dictator, Colonel Menghistu Hailemariam, reportedly said once after seeing his soldiers drag a dead EPLF soldier on the ground: ለቆመለት ዓላማ ነዉ የወደቀዉ፣ በክብር ቅበሩት። Roughly, it means: He fell standing for what he believed in, bury his body in honor.
I read this statement or something close to it somewhere. I don't know if it is an accurate attribution. However, it wouldn't surprise me if it is said by anyone who understands well the depth of our people's cultural values.
I personally know a family relative who was a soldier during the time of Colonel Menghistu that was taken captive by either the EPLF or TPLF soldiers on a battlefield. He wasn't shot on the spot because he came back to tell his story. They surprised him by taking time to persuade him that he work with them. He resisted their protracted persuasive efforts. He couldn't accept it. Even then, they let him go back to his home village. He arrived and started to live as a farmer.
I can mention more examples to reflect on what some of us call the depth of our people's cultural values. So, I have to ask if Professor Tilahun Yilma is detached from our people's cultural values in case he is really preaching about the total annihilation of every soldier that stood for what he believed in, justified or otherwise.
More importantly, what does this juxtaposition reflect irrespective of how it came about. ፖለቲካችን ጤናማ ያልነበረ መሆኑን። ኣዎ ጤናማ ፖለቲካ ኣለ። በመጠኑም ቢሆን እያየን ኣይዴለም?
So, let us all step into that sphere of reflection and ask what has come of these and other highly accomplished Ethiopian scientists and professionals. It is much harder to train a ምሁር than a ወታደር።
If such highly accomplished Ethiopian professionals or professionals of Ethiopian origin are rattled by the implications of politics on their country, our country, the rattled and the rattling are bound to step inside that sphere of reflection.
