A very long time ago the Lion King of The Kingdom of Mali, Judah, who succeeded his aging father Simba after the latter clearly became senile, was himself dethroned by his scheming uncle and was exiled to Abyssinia, the successor Kingdom to the Kingdom of Aksum. By incredible coincidence, the Lion King of Abyssinia Molla was deposed by a femme fatale named Yodit Gudit, the iridescent Phoenix Queen, a firebird like no other.
Yodit Gudit, the Phoenix Queen of Abyssinia, enamored of the blue blood pedigree of Judah made him a senior member of her male harem. Soon Judah, the deposed Lion King of the Kingdom of Mali, began to appear on the throne together with the Phoenix Queen as her senior consort. Judah agreed to be the Phoenix Queen’s de facto husband to spite his uncle who usurped his throne, by marrying out of his species. But at the same time, he hated being seen as one who not only betrayed his species but also his gender by kowtowing to a female.
So, Judah started plotting to depose the Phoenix Queen not only to restore the
supremacy of his gender but also to reverse his error of betraying his own species. The first line of attack he chose was logical reasoning by which he thought he could easily win an argument on the gender issue and convince the Phoenix Queen to abdicate the throne in his favour. So, one day as the Phoenix Queen was lunching with her consort, Judah, surrounded by numerous members of her male harem standing out of earshot Judah said: “Honey, have you ever considered how much it hurts me to play second fiddle to a female?”
The Phoenix Queen went ballistic with anger. “How dare you say that ! Do you know how much it pains me to see males pushing females around despite the fact that it is females who create males under God?
“But, darling that’s how nature works as God created it. Mary gave birth to the Son of God, the creator of the universe superior to all and inferior to none!”
“That is absolutely true, but the Son is God and God has no gender!” the irescedent Phoenix argued back with verbal incandescence in her voice.
“However, it is an undeniable fact that most of the members of the animal kingdom,
including humans, have gender generally classified into male and female,” said Judah.
“How about hermaphrodites, transgenders, and queers and all the rest of it”, asked Yodit Gudit.
“Those are genetic aberrations that could be corrected by biotechnology,” replied the former Lion King of the Kingdom of Mali.
“If those could be altered by genetic engineering, why not do the same with the whole gender difference between males and female?”
“That would require drastically changing the structure of the DNA of species, which only God the Creator can do.”
“Why then doesn’t mankind which brags about being created in the image of God try to play God and do exactly that?” the Phoenix Queen doggedly pursued her line of argument.
“By the way, even that is being tried largely by male humans who have always been superior in science, mathematics, engineering, information technology and in all the hard sciences. Humans say that is because the size of a male’s brain is larger than that of a female. Besides, the female’s
name itself is derived from the male’s name. As you know, a human male is man and a human female is a woman, which implies the female is only an appendage to a man. In other words, a male is a man but a woman is “wo” appended to man? Females call all this male chauvinistic bullshit, but it all seems to have a foundation in fact and reality,” the former Lion king Judah bombarded the Phoenix Queen with all sorts of truths and half – truths, which however never failed to provoke her pique and she said :
“Human females have the same number of genes, i.e. about 20,000, as human males and the structure of their DNA is identical. Gender differentiation is just a matter of functional differentiation and, as you know, neither sex is complete without the other sex”.
“Your Majesty, you know as well as I do that males are generally much stronger physically and significantly more intelligent than females within each and every species on planet Earth. What more evidence does one need to accept the hard fact of gender inequality. Just feel the strength of my paw”, said the former King of the Kingdom of Mali, pressing it rather hard on the Phoenix
and the structure of their DNA is identical. Gender differentiation is just a matter of functional differentiation and, as you know, neither sex is complete without the other sex”.
“Your Majesty, you know as well as I do that males are generally much stronger physically and significantly more intelligent than females within each and every species on planet Earth. What more evidence does one need to accept the hard fact of gender inequality. Just feel the strength of my paw”, said the former King of the Kingdom of Mali, pressing it rather hard on the Phoenix Queen’s back, evidently to her intense displeasure.
“Take your filthy primitive paw of my back. You don’t even know that I am in a forward time warp and that my iridescent eyespot on my train and generally on my plumage can be converted into incandescent lazer guns with which to zap anybody or anything with hostile intentions. Further, females of the entire animal kingdom have formed a coalition to create single –gender species, by genetic engineering, making sure that they do not fabricate Frankenstein’s in the process, said the Phoenix Queen with unaccustomed confidence and authority, reflecting the emergence of female power not only on Planet Earth but also throughout the universe from galaxy to galaxy.
“That is a big lie! You probably do not know that I am in a forward time warp too. The Americans have not even changed their Declaration of Independence of 1776. Not a single word in their sacrosanct document written on parchment has changed! ‘We hold these truths to be self –evident, that all men are created equal’… It doesn’t even say all men and women are equal,” said the former King of Mali, Judah.
“What does all that matter? What matters is what is being done at the fundamental level, i.e. at the level of the DNA. Both sexes are going to have the same chromosomes. No more X and y for males and double X for females. No cumbersome pregnancy for females only. No men and women but just persons or sapiens. Sapiens may be just biological organisms reproducing themselves internally or in- vitro fertilization. Of course, there will be one kind of sapiens, one stature, one beauty, one intelligence, one everything. Obviously, this is all for humans who will all become just sapiens. This will be extrapolated for all other species including phoenixs and lions”, the firebird queen launched into the most chimerical fabula fantasy the universe has ever seen or heard.
Fearing that he might well be outconfabulated by a female, the former Lion King of the Kingdom of Mali tried to spin a yarn not even J.K. Rowling could match. He thought long and hard but could not possibly think of anything that might come anywhere near “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” In desperation, he launched the most vituperative diatribe against the fair sex not seen or heard since the witchhunts of the Middle Ages:
“Do you think there will ever be a female Einstein, a female Newton, a female Mozart, a female Usain Bolt or a female Federer? No way, Madame! Equal pay for Nadal and Serena Williams? Never, Madame!” the ex- Lion King harangued.
The Phoenix Queen could no longer tolerate the deposed Lion King and she had to call a spade a spade:
“Get out of my way, you smelly beast! Do you believe that there is ever going to be a male Simone Biles or a male J.K. Rowling or a male Mother Theresa or a male Angela Merkel or a male Margaret Thatcher or a male Marie Curie!” the Firebird Queen declaimed and activated her lazer guns by unfurling her iridescent train.
Observing that things had come to a head, the ex-Lion King raised his right paw to reveal its laser –technology enabled luminosity, saying:
“Remember, Your Majesty, that I am the Lion of Judah, the Son of God!”, the former Lion King of the Kingdom of Mali said, upon which the Phoenix Queen of Abyssinia, the successor kingdom to Aksum, replied in an exceptionally solemn demeanor: “Then remember that I am your Mother Mary, the God- ordained symbolic creator of males and females under God and under the Son of God!”
The Ethiopian Herald May 17/2020
BY TEKLEBIRHAN GEBREMICHAEL
The power of genius
( Short Story)
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” said Jifar wiping his bald head sitting under the shade of a tree behind his house with his friend, Melaku.
Melaku, his friend, looked down to earth trying to find a way how he could tell Jifar about what he was trying to say.
My friend doesn’t have a hint of current events. He is oblivious of what’s going around. Now, how can I put it to him? he pondered.
“Melaku, please tell me your story in the language I can easily understand? It is strange to hear such a thing happening in our country.”
Looking into the eyes of Jifar, “Now I know that you have not heard anything about what I am going to tell you.”
Melaku, after a pause of contemplation asked, “Is it only me or others, too, who do not know about it? Why have I not heard anything about it?”
“Do you live on the moon, my friend? How come you say you have not heard about it at all? Let alone you, a young man, even elderlies are well aware of it and are doing everything in their capacity to protect themselves and others.”
“What do you mean? Protect themselves,
and from what? You are making the issue even more complicated. To tell you frankly, I am really confused,” snapped Jifar.
These two have been intimate friends for long. They live in the same neighborhood and their parents were friends too. In fact, Jifar’s mother is Melaku’s aunt. It would sound better if they were referred to as relatives. Obviously, cousins love each other more than brothers do. They share secrets and neither hides anything from the other; what one of them knows, is also known by the other. Their sundried clothes were hanging from cloth line. That day, they both rose early in the morning and went down to the river to wash their clothes as the Easter holiday was to be celebrated in a couple of days. Excited by the soon coming event, they rushed back to the place where they always loved to be – under the tree. Nevertheless, the occasion was not exciting as usual because of the corona virus pandemic. Immediately coming back from the river, they did not bother going to their homes for breakfast. In Africa, anytime is meal time. Nobody makes so much fuss about it. After putting their clothes on the lines, they lay on their back in the sun. Soon, the sun, after going through her early morning evolutionary change, was soon ablaze, and as they felt the tinge of the sunbath, that was when they decided to move to the shade of the tree.
“Have you ever heard of virus?”
“Not at all, what is it all about? What has it got to do with what you are going to tell
me?” said Jifar, rather staring at Melaku.
“Well, my friend, it is a poisonous element causing the spread of infectious disease,” replied Melaku, coolly.
Smiling broadly, “Now you speak well,” remarked Jifar.
Having regulated the feeling of his friend, it did not take Melaku too long to plunge into the main issue.
“As I have previously told you, there is a strange virus that recently emerged from somewhere unknown. Its name is quite difficult to pronounce. They say it is called novel corona virus or as it is commonly referred to by epidemiologists as COVID-19.”
More confused than before, Jifar enquired , “What about it? What makes it so special?”
“Well, Jifar, my friend, it is not easy to understand it easily. Let alone those of us who have little knowledge of science, even the famous scientists are not close to fully understand what it is. They are grappling with it to find out if there are means to make a stop to its contagion.”
Jifar could not utter a word. He had heard that there was a kind of disease killing many people. But he did not know that it was such a deadly type to make all people panic.
Jifar and Melaku had only sixth grade education. They, both, dropped out of school simply because their parents could not afford to pay for their school registration and learning materials. So the children fully engaged in assisting their parents by working in the field and at times herding sheep and cattle. Melaku was smart and could grasp ideas better than
Melaku, being the last child, his parents loved him more than his brothers and sisters.
His father, Ato Yismaw, always trusted him more than his other children to send him on errands for him. Melaku, too, proved his merit by absolute obedience. His mother Ade Chaltu, loved Melaku no less. Born in Selale, she, too, was the favorite child of her parents, and Melaku, being a blend of the two noble cultures, no wonder turned out to be what he was.
‘I wish I had enough money to put my son back in school. It is a tragedy to see such intelligence being wasted just like that,’ he said to himself with regret.
“They say people living in town are not supposed to walk close to each other. There should be a distance of at least six feet between them. I think, one person told me that such practice will come to our area soon. It will not be too long when we cannot sit side by side like we are doing now,” said Melaku to Jifar who was taken aback by the bad news.
“What are you telling me, Melaku? Is our companionship going to tragically end like that? How about our families? Tell
me the truth, please,” pleaded Jifar, tears welling up in his eyes for fear of losing his siblings and a friend, Melaku.
As the discussion between the two friends was heated up, Jifar’s father, Obo Lamesa, a man of noble mind came to where the boys were. The boys sprang to their feet as a gesture of respect and Obo Lamesa blessed them both, and allowed them to sit down according to the demand of the culture,.
Then he cleared his throat and with his soft voice asked, “What are you boys doing here? When I heard your voice from distance, it seemed to me that you were in the middle of a hot discussion about something very important which I am eager to hear.”
Hesitantly, Jifar said, “Well Dad, Melaku tells me that there is a disease, its name, which I have not yet learned, is being spread fast. To me, it was shocking and I could not believe him. It is while he was trying to explain it to me that you came.”
Obo Lamesa, having heard what jifar said, turned to his Melaku, “What is it that you told Jifar? It is new to me.”
“Sir,” said Melaku, “it is true. Many people are
suffering from the disease and many are dying, too. There is no cure for it. The only remedy for it is that all of us should strictly follow the guidelines and restrictions given by the government. Sir, the worst side of the disease is that it is contagious, moving fast from person to person. There is no age limit to be infected by it; every person of any age and social status is vulnerable. ”
Obo Lamesa, too, was shocked to hear about the deadly disease. Of all, what bothered him was the lack cure for it. He thought of the safety of his wife and children. ‘I’ve never imagined such a curse would happen in my life time,’ he thought.’
“If that’s the case, what do you think will be the solution?” asked turning to Jifar. Desperation was clearly visible on his face.
“The only solution is abiding by the rules the government has laid down as a measure of tackling and surmounting the problem eventually,” interjected Melaku.
It did not take Ob Lamesa too long to instruct Melaku to convey this information to his parents.
Obo Lamesa, a tall and slender man, came to the area from Nekempt, and his wife W/ro Tiwab, from Wollo, whose irresistible beauty chained him to her, mothers Jifar and Temesgen.
“It seems we have already formed a team to create awareness in the people of our village to combat this deadly virus,” suggested Obo Lamesa, to which the boys agreed.
“What should we do now?” enquired Meleku.
“Why don’t we go into the village and tell them about the virus and ask them to cooperate with us in fighting it suggested Jifar.” After all this is not difficult to do; it is very simple. All we have to tell them is to keep distance between one another, wear face mask, wash hands with soap regularly and avoid being in a big crowd. This way, we can minimize the risk of losing lives. The problem with this pandemic is not only killing people but also weakening the economy of countries, drastically increasing unemployment, and destroying the social fabric to turn human beings into beasts, the inception of the survival of the fittest. It has shamelessly subdued the great powers of the world for which they have lost thousands of their citizens. Their efforts to come up with vaccines is not possible a foreseeable future. The merciful intervention of the almighty is what the world should cling to,” they all agreed.
The Ethiopian Herald May 17/2020
BY JOSEPH SOBOKA
The Planetary turmoil that frenzied Peoples the world, measures and Precautions
We are all in desperation of the fear of what will happen to us next. When it comes to corona virues infection the whole thing is totally unpredictable. In an attempt to quell the near-bursting tide of fear in all of us, all possible measures are being taken even though the results are not as satisfactory as they should be, rather disheartening.
Through strenuous struggle, protective means and measures are forwarded by health authorities who are much concerned about the wellbeing of mankind. The self-initiated, Green and Clean Life Association play the vanguard role in the area. According to the association, adhering to the advice seems very informative and helpful to save life of not only one person but that of the whole human race. Corona virus is a common denominator when it comes to the life and death matter. The information of the safety measures is worth passing to family, friends and regretfully to all people. Akin to the issue, members of Stanford Hospital Board forwards advice of high importance.
The following is their assertion about corona virus: the Coronavirus may not show sign of infection for many days. They remain in a hide out until they are rooted in human body. They are the staunchest enemies that our planet has ever encountered. Thus, how can one know if one is infected? The tragedy is by the time one has fever/ and or cough, and goes to the hospital, the lung is usually 50% Fibrosis and it is too late. This is the result of disobedience. Taiwan experts provide a simple self-check that we can do every morning. Take deep breath and hold your breath for more than 10 seconds. If you complete it successfully without coughing and without discomfort, stiffness or tightness, etc., it proves there is no Fibrosis in the lungs. This basically indicates no infection. In critical time, please self-check every morning in an environment with clean air. This is a very critical issue that may cost the life of a person.
Serious and excellent advice by Japanese doctors in treating COVID-19 cases is, everyone should ensure his or her mouth and throat are moist, never dry. Take a few sips of water every 15 minutes at least. Why is this act necessary? Even if the virus gets into your mouth, drinking water or other liquids will wash them down through your throat and into the stomach. Once there, your stomach acid will kill the virus. If you do not drink enough water more regularly, the virus can enter your windpipe and into the lungs. That makes the issue complicated and very dangerous. These recommendations, by some groups, are considered as myth.
Yet, it is worth trying.
It is required of all of us to send and share with family members and friends if you are really concerned about their wellbeing. When is a friend for if you cannot do this and save the life of your family and that of friends? It should be our bounden duty to see that the world may recover from this coronavirus soon.
EPIDEMEOLOGISTS MAKE IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT COROLA VIRUS AS FOLLOWS: 1. If you have a runny nose and sputum like that of the common cold, it does not mean that you are infected by the virus. Such a phenomenon has been around for thousands of years and there has been treatment for it; in fact, such problem is not seriously considered as a disease and it seems that our body has developed immunity to it. The problem is that we tend to confuse corona virus infection with it. Perhaps that is why people become negligent about the whole issue of corona virus.
Here with us, some people are often heard saying corona virus is nothing other than common cold and they prescribe their own traditional herbal medicines. In actual situation, confused by the false notion, they do not bother using face mask and keep
distance from the infected or suspected persons.
2. People easily panic if someone standing next to them coughs or sneezes simply because they cannot differentiate the type of cough the individual has.
3. The new virus is not heat-resistant and will be killed by a temperature of just 26/27 degrees. It hates the sun. This fact of the virus has rather misled people; as long as they live in hot region, they think the virus cannot infect. Although the regions hard hit by corona virus are those very hot, but we often see that tens of thousands of people there are equally affected and thus the belief is heavily refuted.
4. If someone sneezes with the virus, it takes about 10 feet before it drops to the ground and is no longer airborne. Based on this fact, I am not sure whether it is only in Ethiopia or the same in other African countries, people in most cases, do not bother covering their mouth and nose while sneezing. Open sneezing, more than its adverse health effect, the sight is very displeasing to the people around.
The writer does not understand why people of sound mind behave in such a nasty
way. It is just a matter of commonsense to differentiate the right from wrong in doing things. After having thoroughly taught how COVID – 19 greatly uses these means (coughing and sneezing), why should people turn a blind eye and a deaf ears to the objective reality of the corona virus? The virus, under no circumstance respects those who allow it to ravage human races uncontrollably. We truly are all in this together. The virus does not favor one group and attack the other; people in all walks of life equally fall prey to it unquestionably. The wealth and industrial advancement of great nations least subdue it. In Russia, doctors on the front line, caring for the infected patients, due to unknown reasons, are reported falling from the widows of the hospitals. This shows the severity of viral attack. Thus, how much more a common man should know better and abide by the instructions given? The writer believes it is the best leveler. According to epidemiologists, corona virus, more than it has attacked so far, in few months there could be an alarming surge of CUPID-19 deaths, about 3000 per day in one big nation alone. Negligence of the citizens is more apparent when a police man was pushed into water only for telling the people to keep social distance. Yet, we should know that the new corona virus affects the heart and causes blood clouting which can kill the victim in a short time.
The irony of the situation is that the more relentless efforts are made, the less the pandemic responds and the more it does not budge. Shortages of equipment, the lab tests, at times, showing negative, attribute to the crisis. Due to these and others, in the Unites States alone, the current death stands at a very high figure per day. It is not difficult to imagine how shocking it is when the global corona death toll is considered. To matter worse, some experts predict that COVID-19 may last three years if the people cannot adhere to the guide lines. Considering the attitude of the people here in Ethiopia, the trend is rather discouraging. Disregarding the sly spread of the virus, and yet how it is slowly gaining momentum, many refuse to listen to the constant appeal of the government to follow the guide lines and the restrictions. Hence, as of late, new cases are emerging to ring the bell. From what is happening, one can boldly say, in deed God is miraculously intervening in the protection of the people; but this should not be a pretext to act carelessly and recklessly for the enemy is crouching to spring in full swing. Pending on the seriousness of the devastation of the pandemic, it is high time we all took protective measures to save our life and return to normality.
The Ethiopian Herald May 17/2020
BY JOSEPH SOBOKA
