Mereja.Forum

[teodroseIII]

politics, instead I write to talk about the very things we refuse to recognize and yet reside deep in our hearts. The violence and chaos erupting in Ethiopia and all around the world are really manifestations of injuries that have been passed on to us like cursed inheritances. Generation after generation were born into trauma after trauma; these wounds swallowed as if they were bitter gurshas—internalized and rarely discussed.

I’m talking about pains witnessed going back to my grandparent’s generation; though anguish was also passed down to them from their forefathers. In the 1930’s, Italy invaded Ethiopia and tried to undo the legacy of Adwa. Mussolini attempted to salvage Italian pride by blowing up hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children in a chemical holocaust that preceded Auschwitz. The world ignored the suffering of Ethiopians even as Haile Selassie warned the League of Nations about the fire that was burning in Ethiopia, that fire eventually consumed Europe and most of the world.

“Apart from the Kingdom of the Lord there is not on this earth any nation that is superior to any other. Should it happen that a strong Government finds it may with impunity destroy a weak people, then the hour strikes for that weak people to appeal to the League of Nations to give its judgment in all freedom. God and history will remember your judgment.” ~ Haile Selassie 

Though heroic Arbegnoch eventually turned back Italy and reclaimed our independence, the price for their victory was paid with mass graves and sorrows that are hard to fathom. But our culture is not one to dwell on the past—even if the source of one’s pain is recent—so they moved on and started the hard work of rebuilding their nation. Deep inside however, memories of loved ones lost, the PTSD of seeing neighbors who perished in fires of mustard gas and...continued

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE: https://ghionjournal.com/tears-of-ethiopia/

[gagi]

Teodros, what a brilliant piece! The video clip is especially moving.

#HealEthiopiaTogether. Indeed, we need healing from this intergenerational pain.

Thank you so much for this inspiring piece " Tears of Ethiopia"!

[teodroseIII]

Thank you wendeme, may God continue to bless Ethiopia.