Ephrem Endale
Contributer
A call from somewhere else abroad;
“I hope that you’re out for a walk?”
“A walk! Did you say I was out for a walk?”
“Yes I did. What’s wrong about that?”
“My friend you must be crazy to think as such!”
“Hey, hey take it is easy! What was all the outburst about?”
“Sorry; I didn’t mean it. For a moment I forgot your calling from Boston. To tell you the truth I’m huddled up home with all the gabi, overcoats and other heavy clothes in the closet.”
“I’m not getting you. What the hell are you doing home at this hour, and what’s all this heavy clothes about?”
“It’s raining cats and dogs out there!”
“What! Raining cats and dogs in the month of Ginbot!”
Your pardon your dear friend for having it wrong. But then as we are saying Ginbot is supposed to be like this!
The Ethiopian month of Ginbot was not supposed to be like this. Ginbot being one of the hottest months on the calendar, so much rain that continues to fall comes as some surprise and, oh yes, doomsday narratives. Several days back there was this heavy downfall where the wind was, I’ve to admit somewhat scary. In the evening while watching one of those martial arts films where you wonder “why we need faster-than-sound planes when there are so many humans doing it and we don’t even have to pay for expensive jet fuel Ha!”
Anyways, it was at that time a longtime friend calls. He didn’t even voice proper greetings when, as excited as he was he says, “Have you ever seen rains so heavy in your life?” That was taking things a little too far. Yes, the skies really opened up, yes the winds were somehow scary but the rains and the winds were nowhere near to being record breakers to tell you the truth. But I was not going to spoil my friend’s evening. “Yes, the rains were really heavy.” In deed the old village where live crackled like it was some recycling plant of iron and steel. I was searching for what to say next when, still exited, he says,
“Did you know what that means?”
“Sorry, what was that?”
“Did you know that the rains this afternoon were signs that we are deep in End Times?”
Well, I’ve heard umpteen theories about the End Times but that afternoon’s rains wouldn’t feature anywhere in these narratives. (Ouch! The hero in the movie buries the spear deep into the villain’s midsection sending it all the way out back! But the villain still fought as if he hadn’t even been scratched! I should find someone who tells me the science or the traditional skills behind such things! God save the hero; I mean a villain with such out-of-this-world perseverance, physical endurance and skills could take an entire town by himself; like the Stephen Segal guy used to do.) Time for some diplomacy;
“Well I didn’t think about it that way. But you might be right.” No, I’m not ready for any confrontation especially one in which I know the chances of me being beaten black and blue are indisputable. “When do you think the End Times would be? I mean do we know the time when it’d actually happen?” I could imagine his furrowed forehead and that look, “Has this guy sunk so deep into the ignorance hole!”
“It’s already happening! Can’t you see all that is happening around you?” Now certainly my friend is not a conspiracy theorist or anything like that. But we’ve reached a stage where almost everything is being tied with the End Times. Yes, as we don’t seem to get tired of saying the world is messy and it seems mankind is adamant to keep making it messier. When you see many things that weren’t supposed to be like they are presently you can’t help wondering why everything seems to be going from bad to worse and what comes to mind is that maybe mankind is edging closer to the eleventh hour.
It being close to midmonth by now, the heat was supposed to be so intense we should have put or jackets in the closets. The exact opposite is happening. By the way do the Ginbot rains have anything to do with the global warming? I don’t know. I mean I don’t have any idea since these days you see a lot of conspiracy theories about global warming, climate change and related issues.
Is it good that it’s raining at this time of the year? If you ask me the city guy I’d say “Well, as long as it doesn’t catch me outdoors I see no reason to think otherwise.” Oh is that so! In fact we hear that it is most damaging to farming; and there are also floods damaging houses. All said Ginbot isn’t what it is supposed to be.
Technology too doesn’t seem to be what it’s supposed to be. Too bad! All the hope humanity seems to have laid on AI ‘miraculous’ technology seems to be cracking at the seams. Including the very person is described as the mastermind behind AI has made his worries public. It seems humanity too should be worried. They say the AI research is going in such unexpected ways little by little mankind’s hold seems to be slipping. One scary claim I read somewhere on the social media is that AI could, without the interference of any human being, launch nuclear strike attack on any place at any time. As of recent times the scare coming with the AI technology is worrying. It seems AI is out pacing the human brain by leaps and bounds and mankind seems to be lost as to even imagine what might happen in the near future. But AI or any technology wasn’t supposed to be like this.
Somehow it isn’t only about nature going awry now and then. Due to the activities of mankind many things are no more what they are supposed to be. Does this have anything to do with ‘the Great Reset?’ It’s no crime in trying to see the other side of the coin, is there?
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 21 MAY 2023