What is the goal of taking life of a young individual whose future could be of a valuable asset to the country? The heart-rending murder of Hachalu remains a staggering memory to all his fans and the peoples of Ethiopia at large. It is nothing other than absolutely getting hold of the wrong end of the stick. It has a completely mistaken idea of what is intended. Life, at all cost, cannot be traded for anything in the world, rather in the universe if at all there are extra-terrestrial living beings like we have here on earth. The ambitions of man are all hinged to the sustainability of life; anything that cuts the continuous flow of the ability to live, makes the once living person lifeless or a dead body. Any deliberate act to that end causes an individual become a different entity other than living being is the most despicable act that under normal circumstance cannot be accepted and condemned. Someone can be missing on the line of duty defending the territory of his country in which the outcome obviously becomes heroic and righteous. Struggle for some cause is acceptable and universal but as much as possible it should be without shedding blood.
As Christians, we know that the first concept of death started in the beginning of the history of the earth. It happened between the first off springs or the two sons of Adam – Cain and Abel. The cause of the murder was the sacrifice that they each offered to the Lord God. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. Abel on his part brought the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord God respected and accepted Abel’s sacrifice but not Cain’s. Because of this, Cain got very jealous and angry to the extent of killing his own brother. What a treacherous situation! This malicious act shows that the power of killing is such that it discards the rationality from the mind of the murderer. At the very moment of inflicting such a life-taking harm, an impulsive takes over. If the guy who committed the murder were to be asked, he would have no rational answer but only regret. The drive to take the life of a fellow man is so strong that it drives away rationality. While the situation, of which the solution to the problem could have been rationally sought, without causing harm of such magnitude, it could have been avoided.
Lack of common understanding over a certain issue between two persons or groups ultimately leads to hatred of which the goal is rivalry and there by ending in a fight. It is expected of people to think soberly without indulging into emotional reaction. Emotion cripples the power of right thinking and guides the person to the wrong direction. Thus, the possibility of people to mutually exist and enjoy the fruits
of peace becomes quite remote. Otherwise, if the case is unwisely pushed to the edge, it results in nothing other than one killing the other. Out of killing, nothing good comes out. Sometimes it is obvious that if a person fails to succeed in life while things work out well for his friend, for no apparent reason, projects his failure to his friend. The assassin thinks as if his failure was linked to the success of his friend, and, thus, jealousy, in due course, broods and the eventual murder takes place.
‘The love of money is the root of all evils,’ says the big book. It is not money that causes problem rather it is the uncontrolled love attached to it. It is the way we treat is that determines the role money has in our life. Money is a good servant but a bad master. If we are hoarding it, we become slaves to it. It governs every bit of our activities and absolutely commands our personality. Every fraction of a second in our life is totally dedicated to designing schemes to hoard it; the good human relationship will
be cast aside. No room for social welfare and every person becomes a potential threat to his selfish endeavors. Suspicion governs his day-to-day walk in life. Filled with such negatively tuned attitude, his intimate friend will eventually be considered enemy and he does not refrain from getting him of out of the way. For elaboration sake, two shop owners living far apart, they do not know each other and they compete to attract as many customers as possible each. This is the situation in which they simply compete as they do not know each other. If they happen to run business side by side, they become aware of each other, the situation in which the level of the competition is raised a step higher and they become rivals and the rivalry ends in conflict, the dynamo of crime –inflicting physical injury or killing. On the other hand, if someone entrusts his money in the custody of his friend and the friend later refuses to return it to the owner, the situation creates animosity between the two to the extent of one taking the life of the other.
People with mental illnesses are of dual personality- perhaps introvert and extrovert. They are either at enmity with themselves or with a person other than themselves. When their mind fails to maintain self- composure, a state in which they suffer from the total self-control and they are often prone to commit suicide. On the other hand, they consider people other than themselves as their enemy and someday sooner or later commit murder to avenge their inner lack of stable personality that they believe is caused by others.
Countries are at war for various reasons whether or not they are justifiable. Very often the causes of war lack logical explanation to make the incidence occur, after all. Driven by emotion like a horse without rein, many countries arrive at such devastating conclusion only to regret after the war is over for the unnecessary loss of lives and resources. The only difference from the other life-taking operation is that it is licensed to kill as many people as possible. The incessant killing without accountability obviously leads to anarchy in which social disorder triumphs. It is a political theory of disobedience and that the government and the law are undesirable. People with the desire to become rich take the advantage of the situation without fear of being followed and arrested. There is no accountability and the thugs get away with whatever they do. Anarchy may involve the theory of resistance in two ways: first, force is to be used by the people only against unjust and unlawful force. Second the right of disobedience may not be exercised by one man or small group of citizens who feel themselves oppressed, but only by the majority of the people when they have suffered from mischief and oppression. It is not crime to struggle for a cause; freedom of some kind within a reasonable and acceptable scope of action. But in some instances, while the government exists and while everything possible is done to iron out the years-long problems of mischief and oppressions, due to the instigation coiled by some selfish groups behind the screen, the situation gets out of hand and as we have witnessed, anarchy prevails. Chaos, looting and destroying building structures of various kinds, and with the same impetus, killing of people inevitably follows. Of course, anarchy is relative in its meaning: some, who manipulate it, think that the situation becomes the means to the end, but to others, it is the end by itself. Yet, we have to bear in mind that Syria is a living witness for the tragedy caused by anarchy. In this instance, the President Bashir Alasad, the Syrian leader, thinks, even though thousands have perished, it is the only way to save the national integrity while the oppositions take it as a means the president uses to destroy them. Where does the problem lie? God knows.
The Ethiopian Herald July 19, 2020
(Analytical approach)
BY JOSEPH SOBOKA
