A few months back there was this trend of warning that America could be dragged into a civil war. The political antagonism in the country kept growing real ugly and the rhetoric on all sides sounded that only heads on the plate would solve things if there was anything to save! It was hard to believe all that red hot political bickering was going in that country. What! These dudes must be out of their minds to think that a country as developed as America, a country which for decades was taken as the leader of the world with all the nice medals glittering across it shudders. No wonder, let alone those of us form a part of the world which still has a lot of running to do to even get any closer to the leading pack that even citizens of well-developed countries have the idea of being beneficiaries of what we normally called “the American Dream.” (Of course over recent years that saying must have gone through a lot of rewriting as things have changed so much form the time of its original inception.
So given all that it stood for and being the dream country of maybe half of the world, it was difficult to think of negative things as we would have for other developed countries. I mean one common thing in this country was the joy of family and friends when one of theirs lands in America.
“Did you hear…went to America?
“You don’t say!
“Yes, he did. In fact he promised to send us photos from DC in a couple of weeks. One way to convince the crowd back on home ground as to the fact the person was really in the land which supposedly was thought to be only a few blocks away from actual Paradise was to send photos. A couple of months later glittering photos come from across the Atlantic showing the person in front of a mesmerizing high rise and leaning on the door of one of those cars people used to see only in Hollywood films. “Bravo! Did you see his picture closely? He looks like a fresh prince. I can’t imagine how he can afford such a car in such a short time?” Hmmm…well what counts is our guy is there and the rest is history!
How in the world could anyone in their right minds think that such a wonderful country would sink into a civil war! And who fights against whom” and for what purpose, too? Who do you think would fight against whom and what the purpose. Look, I have to admit that the rhetoric from all sides during the election camping was so much filled with arrogance, disrespect, the foulest type of ego, crude name calling, and the unbridled lust for power many taught whoever wins there would be tough roads ahead to navigate. Are we seeing exactly that at present? Would things continue going out of hand like it seems to be at present? Watching what has been unfolding in Los Angeles and elsewhere one would be pardoned the footage is erroneously placed and it should have been part of a story of the usual disturbances in some unlucky nation in other parts of the. But we’re in times when the rules are no more there and the exceptions seem to have taken the place of the rules with all the wrong things happening.
As if the concern which might spill across the borders of the country to other nations directly or directly wasn’t enough another real global scare is taking place. The Israelis have pounded Iran’s nuclear facilities and even killed top commanders and scientist. The Iranians are said to have retaliated and things are really going out of hand. Now for quite some time the scare has been any attack on Tehran and the subsequent war that unfolds would mark the beginning of world War III. The argument is that other countries would eventually be drawn in with the Americans already saying they would protect Israel you don’t need an Einstein brain to realize this is indeed should worry much of the world with in many places the chances for new conflicts to be set of or old ones which remained dormant for years to be reignite being horribly real.
And as the Ukraine Russia war goes in and out of all sorts of accepted and unexpected swirls recent attacks have been more ferocious with both sides claiming to have caused much damage on the enemy. Amidst all that is happening and the loss of more and more lives on all sides very interesting and dumbfounding rhetoric coming from some European capitals doesn’t go far enough with calls for the peace efforts to be really speeded up. No! It wouldn’t be far from the truth that in fact war drums are being beaten in some places as political parties are at each other’s throats, anti-immigrant emotions are taking all sorts of nasty turns and twists, the far right are sweeps many polls, and the most dangerous sort of nationalistic feelings seem to be spreading. Defense budgets have broken through the roofs even in the so-called neutral countries which only not long ago were the envy of the rest of the world as they lived their lives and left the rest of the world to mind is its business. However, now some of them seem to be taking the front row seat the main culprit being Putin’s Russia.
Are the aliens finally coming to make good work of us now that we are trying to invader? No, they are not. That’s not the case. The talk is that sometimes in the future especially case Ukraine is brought down to its knees Moscow’s next targets would be European countries that have been helping it.
Where, oh where are the peacemakers? Where are the individuals, groups, entities which could have gone a long way in containing simmering rivalries and bring back people to their senses and to the negotiation tables! Or, and this is the most important question of the hour, have they, too, been politicized!
What, oh what, is going on!
– Hello, is anybody home
Recently, this guy we know was fuming because of what he says was the betrayal of a best friend for whom he had done so much, He says he practically pulled this of his out of deep financial troubles which almost broke up the family. In fact the story was that this family of three was stone’s throw away from virtual hell on earth had it not been for this good friend. Yes, he is doing very well running a business and he had the financial muscle to help others. But only this is not enough to be nice and caring. We know stories of filthy rich people who wouldn’t give a single cent to needing family or friend and just throw away thousands and thousands of birr in the most unlikely of places if you know what I mean. So it’s a thumbs up for tis guy who came to the help of a suffering friend. The needy friend recovers and in fact after that makes some good money by himself and led a good life.
But now that the guy was on his feet and financially comfortable his does the most outrageous of things. So what actually happened? Well on the surface it sounds like ‘the same old story’ stuff. As he narrated it one day this best friend tells him he has come across some filthy rich people who were planning on launching some business who he says would be very profitable within a short time.. He claims he has given his friend’s name to the rich guys and that they were willing to make him part of the new business scheme. Now our guy being business-minded thinks it was wonderful and he was willing to join the group. Mind you had full confidence in his friend! So the sort of businessman he himself was there seems to be some things he just ignored like some paperwork.
Now, I’, no business-minded and I\m not even sure I fully know what it meant. But it doesn’t mean you need any business-like genes to realize that oral narratives only don’t drag people into any business venture, however small or vast. There should be the paperwork that are the basis of the oral narratives. With the incidences of foul play common these days even closer look at things would be the only defense from being cheated. But our guy still confident of his best friend later says that foul play never came to his, mind. Isn’t that why many are cheated out of their hard earned money! Doing things by the book isn’t about sticking to the rules but also a sort of insurance in case the train jumps the rails. It’s also saving people from falling into traps they didn’t notice. But loyalty to rely on friendship makes our guy skip all these things. Even after he talked to a person who his friend said to be one of the filthy rich group paperwork didn’t come to his mind. In fact the new person being very articulate in the way he tried to make it clearer to our guy increases his confidence on the whole plan. The person tells him he will send him all the documents through his best friend. Our guy says, with tons of regret, he was so completely convinced he was ready to take the financial or other risks in the business venture
Early next day the new person calls and after promising tossed the documents in the afternoon he asks our guy to deposit some amount of money fast in an account that was new to him. He said they need to show deposits that morning to finalize the registration process. He mumbled that it wasn’t just right to deposit that much money without having any receipt or some evidence. The new person sounds offended and went on to say that the only reason they took him in was because of his friend and he can pull out if he isn’t aren’t interested. No! He can’t just pull out! Not that easily! The new guy continues talking and he says our guy can deposit the money into his friend’s account if he doesn’t believe them. Aha! That’s why best friends are for! he agrees.
He then calls his friend and tells him what happened. His friend says he was very happy to be of help. Now our guy was unwilling to tell how much money was really involved. But he rushes to the bank and deposits the money into his friend’s account. After that everything falls silent. The documents didn’t appear in the afternoon as promised. Well, maybe the new guy was too busy. Then the whole thing No phone calls, no text messages, it was like a total blackout. He has no idea of what actually was gang on since he couldn’t communicate with his best friends or the new man whose phone number he had. He couldn’t get his best friend however much he tried. He goes to the house of the fellow located in one old hamlet of the city. Well, the guy’s family, his wife and a ten year old son vacated the house about four months back. That was before he was told about the business plan,
Finally he had to face the fact maybe just maybe he was duped out of his money. Though he remained tight-lipped as to the actual sum fair estimates on our part run from a few hundred thousand to a million-plus. Our guy hears from someone who says he accidentally stumbled to the story that there wasn’t any business plan, or the so-called group of the filthy rich and that the new guy was no business person of any kind but a repeat criminal who had cheated many and was locked up a number of times. And his best friend? Well, not much info could he get about him. But the narrative around town was that he had gone out of the country with his family. As to which country, no one had any idea.
These days, betrayals and aback stabbings among friends seem to have become so common that anyone would be pardoned to suspect everyone else around them. It is rather difficult to differentiate the genuine from the fake. We can only shout, “Hello! Anybody home?” That way perhaps the innocent might make their presence felt.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 15 JUNE 2025
