Short Story
BY JOSEPH SOBOKA
“The truth shall set you free” says the word of God. An idea in accordance or in agreement with fact is what is generally known as truth. It is the state of being faithful or loyal to somebody or something. Thus, where there is no truth, hardly can people get along. Suspicion prevails and trust vanishes. A person wants to move with someone he trusts and in whom he can confide his inner most secret.
There was a house where people gathered usually after work late afternoon. Customarily they go there to drink tej, alcoholic drink made from honey which Ethiopians with low income enjoy drinking it. Unfortunately, these days it is among relatively expensive beverage and lately inaccessible to the poor. Nevertheless, even if drinking it is once a week or so for the poor, still people enjoy going there. The room where the stuff is served is a bit dark and the customers are little unaware of it or not even concerned about it either. Bees buzz around the room harmlessly to which the customers pay little attention since there is more important thing to do, drinking tej, the very purpose of their presence there.
They sit in groups around the walls of the room. All were engaged in discussions; various issues were raised and pursued with interest. As a result, the noise was getting louder and louder as the impact of the alcohol began taking root. The roaring laughter seemed to shake the building to its foundation. To a person who comes into the room, the noise was deafening as one speaker tries to out loud the other to be heard.
Out of the blue, one guy stood up and loudly said, “It’s all a lie. I tell you, it is a sheer lie. I can’t believe such thing can happen with highly civilized people our world.”
A sort of an elderly man pulling down the person and said, “Calm down my friend, everything that glitters is not gold.”
Ato Girum, a tall man with imposing personality, after having looked around with concern, clapped his hands and soberly said, “My friend, I really understand why you have come to such a conclusion. Personally, this issue has been bothering me for a long time. As a matter of fact, I could not find anyone to thoroughly discuss it with. Thank God, here you are.” A guy who was sitting next to Ato Girum, clearing his throat, said, “Ato Girum is right. We need to seriously look into it without delay. One cannot be trusted if he keeps telling lies about things he does and says. If I’m right, brothers, nobody among us trusts him.”
“What do you talk about trusting? I do not even wish to identify with him come what may,” roared Tesfalem with the glass in his hand about to take a sip of the tej in it.
“We cannot rule out the idea of trust at this time. We need to trust one another if we have to do something important for ourselves and for our country,” said Tolla spreading out his hands to attract their attention.
“No doubt about that. Even now, in its crudest form, this wonderful tej has brought us together to discuss common issues regardless of our individual back ground,” echoed Ansebo. In continuation he said, “In the area where I come from, it is common that serious issues are handled in a similar environment. There, too, there is a local alcoholic beverage called borde with less alcoholic contents than tej. They say that it can substitute food in times of scarcity. Not only for the drink that people go to such places but also for their social value that brings people together willingly without being forced to,” he said.
“Where else is so suitable for people to pour out their hearts to one another about the raging issues of lies that govern their behavior?” inquired Tesfalem earnestly looking around.
“To my understanding, a lie is not limited to between individual but also groups, countries and the like. At this level, it creates unsolvable problems between the groups or the countries involved. As a matter of fact the situation is over stretched leading to war,” said Tolla.
The tide of the discussion subsided for a while and everybody returned to drinking the tej pondering internally. It is so because that a lie has detrimentally affected the life of each individual in Ethiopia. It is electrified by both internal and external enemies of the country with the sole purpose of causing irreparable damage that engulfs the horn of Africa.
To break the silence, Ansebo said, “Brothers do you know when someone denies the truth of what is happening, he is outright lying denying the people the truth they ought to know. In principle such act should be denounced and the perpetrator should brought the throne of judgment.” Some of them clapped in agreement with what Ansebo said.
“It seems some of you do not understand what Ansebo just said,” said Tesfalem. “As for me,” said a person sitting in the middle, “I’m a bit mixed up. Could you elaborate it more, please?” “Of course, it might sound strange and difficult as it should not have happened. We are in the twenty-first century where information is easily accessible from one corner of the globe to the other. The truth cannot be hidden however man tries to,” tried Girum to explain.
Still another man sitting in the far corner, shaking his fists at Girum said, “None sense! Cut the crab! Everything the media tell us is true. Do not try to mislead us.” At this the rest were shocked rather dumfounded. None dared to defend such wrong allegation. They all looked down; they did not at all expect such comment would come out of the mouth of the gentleman. Ato Amberbir was a respected person in the community. He was reputed for his involvement in social activities.
At long last, Tolla stood up and looked around. The rest were still looking down not even noticing that Tolla had risen to his feet. He clapped his hands to attract their attention to which they responded right away. “Please, look at me, all of you. I understand why you are grief stricken. I, too, am not different from you. I feel very disappointed at what we have just heard. Our friend Ato Amberbir, I hope, did not mean it. May be he meant to open our eyes to the issue we were discussing. Am I not right, friends?”
“Absolutely, they all roared.”
“He is not right at all. I was serious about what I said,” retorted Ato Amberbir.
“Look, Ato Amberbir, do you mean that what some western media say about Ethiopia is true?” asked Ansebo with fury on his face.
“For instance,” said Tesfalem, “when so many were massacred at Micadra, what did these media say? To my knowledge they said nothing. They turned bind eye and deaf ear.”
“Not only that, when the junta used humanitarian aid for its vicious purposes without distributing it to the needy Tigrains it professes to liberate. The media in collaboration with the aid agencies at the site blame the Ethiopian troops for blocking the delivery of food and other items from reaching their assigned destination. Isn’t that a lie, Ato Amberbir?” asked Girum emphatically.
“Are you trying to tell me that it is not rue?” asked Ato Amberbir.
“Of course, what else do you expect him to tell you? I’m really disappointed to hear you say like that. Who else to trust, gentlemen?” said Tesfalem. All eyes were staring at Ato Amberbir.
“What about the highly reputed media such as the CNN, Aljazeera and BBC? Do you think they too lie?”
“Believe us Ato Amberbir, they do it shamelessly. They blindly support the junta in spite of what it has done to the country,” added Tesfalem.
Having realized the situation, Ato Amberbir admittedly said, “That means I was of the wrong opinion of what the government of Ethiopia was doing to preserve the sovereignty of the country. I apologize for the trouble I have caused you. Forgive me gentlemen.”
“We could have exhaustively discussed had it not been for the time constraint to bring the issue to your understanding. The world is infected by irredeemable lies,” reaffirmed Tesfalm.
The Ethiopian Herald November 6/2021
