A couple of weeks back there was this horrific car accident in a town near Addis. Ten people lost their lives with multiple others sustaining injuries. The story here is that the driver of the vehicle with many passengers on board was driving way over the speed limit. Because of one irresponsible driver who failed to stick to the rules those innocent passengers never made it back home. Sad! Accidents caused by drivers speeding like crazy aren’t new around here. They wreak havoc on the streets and highways of the country and it’s sad that we don’t seem to be making significant change.
Even on the crowded streets of the city there are those who seem to be our rehearsing for Formula something racing. Anyone can’t be more stupid! Mostly than not these guys usually have no legitimate reason for their haste. You know, things like some emergency happening and they have to rush to the scene. There were times when people usually youngster with lots of tattoos and empty heads sped across town trying to tell the world what they’re made of. They are out ‘to impress’ and very unluckily they do so with souls who never ask questions like, “Why do they have to drive so fast! This is a crowded city and they can cause untold havoc. Oh no; in fact they admire those empty headed dudes who try to supplement responsibility with the crudest stupidity.
“Do you see how he makes his way through the congested traffic and with that speed?”
“Look stepping on the gas is the simplest thing anyone can do. Why, you can do! A five year-old could do it perfectly for that matter.
These days it is easy to blame everything on the prophets of doom. Few of us are willing and ready to play the part expected of us. You’re given some tasks which you can carry out at your own pace. This isn’t something you get every day. “You can do it at your own pace. It’s not about how fast you’d do it but how well.” If we had more of such people around, people who’re aware of the time and efforts specific tasks demand, many things would have been far less messy than they are now. On the contrary its common to be told to submit some work, “…within three days,” while the project needs a couple of weeks at best could take thirteen days. Sad that there are those who fail to realize that many times than not haste means waste. “Look there’s no need to hurry.
At times it seems that if you talked on ‘gear five’ you’re taken for some genius. It is not about content but ‘presentation.’ it is how well you play your role in leading the audience off the track and into the wilderness of confusion. Speed-talking means much of whatever the fellow says is lost and the chances of posing serious challenges are very minimal. The question is not “What is the substance of the story?” but “I heard that the guy could say ten words a second. He must be a very brilliant guy.”
Talking of speeches I’ve to confess that there is this factor which keeps me away from tuning to any speech live or otherwise. Many speeches are nothing more collections of quotes from mostly unidentified philosophers, authors and what have you. Then there are the Biblical bits which these days everyone enjoys throwing into not only what can be described as speeches but daily interactions and small talk. You throw in a couple of verses from the Great Book and you think that Heaven would be a done deal. You think that whoever is on the listening end would take you as the wingless angel. Yes, while many genuinely resort to mention verses relevant to their cases many of us do it just as some ruse to mislead the public into believing we are the kind-hearted innocent souls who by default should have stayed in paradise.
There is this incident I remember from years back, scores of us were in double lines at a certain office waiting for our turns at a place where everything seems to move in slow motion; Slow motion like you’ve never seen before. Haven’t you ever found yourself in places where all the staff seems to be moving in slow motion! Even they seem to talk and laugh at pace which would have made the good old turtle a Usain Bolt of sorts. By the way for some reason in places where you feel they don’t even acknowledge your presence there seems to be a lot of laughter among the staff and their throats seem to be throwing needles and not sound waves. When they laugh it hurts!
Anyways we were waiting in our lines when a couple of guys come. By the way, there seem to be guys around who always think that they deserve the red carpet treatment. They want the masses out of the way in their presence and respect of the highest order. They hurry to the front of the lines which happens to be near the door of the office where all of us were headed to. The people who already have been waiting in line for a couple of hours have already started grumbling. The two tell the guy at the door to let them in. He responds that they should join the line and wait for their turns. Were they angry!
Their hands, adorned with the brightest wristwatches you’ve ever seen fly all over the place as they dumped torrents of mostly abusive words at the guy; not an eyebrow of him twitched. They then resorted to threatening him. This time all hell breaks loose as clients start throwing all kinds of words, mostly outright insults. The boss comes out from the office and before he could do anything the guy at the door tells him what was happening. Then one of the two says, “We are very busy people. We don’t have time like the others.” What! Yes, that was what he said almost word for word. The boss didn’t say anything but makes a call and says something which was hard to hear in the commotion. Suddenly three guards weaving fearsome sticks, sticks which once upon a time were part of ‘proud’ brooms, appear. The boss tells them to throw these (edited!) out of the compound.
Such people around are still around these days too. Well anyone who thinks they’re in a hurry should know all of us are in hurry way one way or another. The only thing is knowing when to hurry, and when to take things at normal paces.
Why do I feel I’m in a hurry!
‘The Right Thing to do…’
Talk of disloyalty and the stabs-in-the-back among friends and colleagues is one of the most common small talk denominators these days. There is always some life partner being disloyal to his/her loved one; there is always this guy throwing his best friend under the bus; there are also echoes of betrayal from the walls and ceilings of supposedly nice and quiet households. There is always talk of someone who was supposed to be the most trusted two legged being on Planet Earth giving away the secrets of his best friend the list goes on.
In the midst of all these the lines between betrayal and ‘doing the right thing’ are blurred to the extent the most responsible and the most innocent actions are taken as disloyalty-unrivalled! The catch here is that doing the right thing isn’t always something would bring you the thunderous applauses and accolades.
When you don’t get what you expect and pole move in ways that make you uncomfortable no wonder the feeling of being tossed out to the wolves overwhelms you. You could even feel the pack of wolves are already on the way to make a sumptuous dinner out of you. “So and so does this to me! I can’t believe it.” And at first you don’t want to acknowledge that what happened has really happened and your best friend is in the cockpit! “This is not him. They must have done something to him. Maybe s they’ve given him some potion to…” and it goes on. You hear multiple such stories. At times it seems that there some omen for relationships not to last more than a few months or a couple of years. These days you hear more about breakups than reconciliations. It is as if there is some behind-the-curtain industry that’s profiting from breakups of such relationships.
“How is your partner, I mean are you two on good terms.”
“He is a dream come true for me. Did I ever tell you I’ve been betrayed by men multiple times over the years?”
“No you never mentioned it.”
“Well, that’s my story; a story of being betrayed over and over again. Now God, having witnessed my ordeals sent me the perfect partner.”
“You seem to be very much in love with him! I’ve never heard you talk about anybody with such passion.”
“It’s not only about love. This is about the mingling, the coming together of hearts”
Now would anybody in their right mind go to such a lady and tell her that her man is the man she thinks he is? I doubt it. The real story, however is that the guy is cheating on her and she has no idea what’s going on behind her back.
Well,
Anyway this story is a little saddening if you hear about the involvement of third parties and all the arguments it has generated. It has practically split friends to the point where some of them who have been close to each other for quite a number of years are no more on speaking terms. There must be something very wrong with this world of ours! When you hear of such too childish reactions from adults who should have known better, adults who should have respected the views of others as they want others to respect their views stop talking to each other just because they find themselves on opposite sides of an argument you almost throw up your arms in defeat. “I tell you this world is going down the tubes?” What can you expect from the much younger generations when those who should have played the fatherly roles behave so primitively? Stopping talking to the person who holds views you don’t subscribe to is ‘primitive’ and nothing less.
You’re in some office and the bosses have assigned some group work to a number of you. Teamwork, that’s what it’s supposed to be. If one of you stumbles the whole thing goes down south. The blame, however, would be on all of you. Say one amongst you is not the type you can call a team player. He doesn’t do the tasks assigned him, he doesn’t come on time for meetings, and in fact he always has some excuse for the mistakes he does and for not being where he’s wanted to be. Still he stays in the team because he would enjoy the incentives that have been promised them once they carry the project through. …
One day one amongst is summoned by the boss. The urgency in the secretary’s voice couldn’t be missed. “The boss wants you now!”
“Do you know that the project is due in four days’ time?”
“Yes, I know sir. But I don’t think we could make it on time.” The guy isn’t going to be the happy boss you’d have loved to see.
“What do you mean?”
“Sir I think we might need another week.”
“Another week! You were given the whole month and you want another week! What’s going on here, or have you guys been approached by our rivals?”
Simple accusations of not doing the work because your guys were a lazy lot or shouldn’t have been given the task in the first place since you’re unreliable would be understandable. Nothing unpleasant and scary than a pissed off boss, wouldn’t you say? But things being turned to accusations of sharing the bed with the enemy, takes the whole thing to new and, yes, dangerous heights.
“What’s the problem, anyway?”
“Well so and so is giving us a hard time. We tried our best to convince him to do his part but have so far failed.”
“You’re telling me this now! “You’re telling me after you have missed the deadline. Why didn’t you come earlier?”
“Well sir if you don’t mind may I interrupt. We didn’t come because we thought bringing the case to you would be disloyalty to our colleague”. That holds, as they say, some water. Because once the story makes the rounds they’d surely be marginalized by the rest of staff. Such things happen far many times than we think.
Now the fellow is not spilling any beans to the boss. He’s trying to explain to him the real picture. I mean it’s not about being nice. ‘Nice’ is a term that would be out of place in such instances. In situations when the whole thing crumbles by the irresponsible actions of one or two guys and you, too would be held responsible, it is time to act. ‘Niceness’ is a no-show. You’ve been laboring to do the tasks entrusted upon you the best way you can and here is a guy pulling your efforts down brick by brick. It’s about preventing from the whole thing turning into a heap of dust.
Anyways ‘the right thing to do’ is not always the most popular thing to do!
Ephrem Endale Contributer
The Ethiopian Herald July 2/2023