Time to Take the bull by the horns! Especially the rather ‘turbulent’ holiday shopping days having already started it’s indeed time to take the bull by the horns and see reality in the face; ‘We’re in economically very tough times!’ That’s it! Not a very romantic thing to say, wouldn’t you say? Of course if you ask all those ‘spiritual’ or ‘secular’ motivational speakers, a term featuring quite frequently especially on the social media for the last several weeks.
So when you talk about the economic dark clouds many would probably tell you that you’re seeing only the black spot and not the white paper. Really! When you find it difficult to feed your family and keep the dishes on the table, when it’s difficult to carry the burden of paying school fees so that your kids get what you think is the perfect qualitative, good healthcare because you couldn’t afford the costs we talk about ‘not seeing’ the black spots. I don’t have anything about trying to lift the sliding spirits of people. But, that here to it’d be great if they try to acknowledge the reality on the ground.
So anyone missing the fact that we’re in economically tough times must be missing a lot of things upstairs; must living in some ‘ivory tour’ away from what the revolutionaries of times long gone called, ‘The Masses.’ It is not about the haves and the have-not. It’s an about the indifference of greed-infested, only-me, the “After me the deluge!’ times we’re in.
Holidays might be ‘happy’ occasions most of the time. Despite the many problems might be afflicting us there is this tendency of trying to make holidays as fine as they can be. Nothing wrong in that! But the process of trying to make the day a good one isn’t the joy ride you’d have liked it to be. No way!
As you scurry from one noisy, chaotic market to another market bursting with many hundreds or thousands of people trying to purchase whatever you need for the special occasion you’d be pardoned to mumble all kinds of curses and not-so-nice words you could think of directed especially at the business people, merchants and shop owners who seem to be remote-controlling us. Now I’m not a fan of that particular crowd of remote-controllers. If you ever find me dancing waltz or whatever for their pleasure then that would be a sign of problems and just pick up your phone and call whoever you have to call;
“I think the guy isn’t all right.”
“What happened?”
“He’s dancing for the pleasure of merchants and shop owners.”
“What! That’s a most dangerous problem. We’ll be there ASAP! And don’t you dare leave his side until we arrive!”
Now, I couldn’t give you figures or things like that. But I always feel most of those people in the business world could beat any contestant in any competition of the ‘Greedy of the Greediest’ or something to that tune and give us a world title we’d certainly not be applauding.
There are people who believe that considering the tough and belt-tightening times we’re in maybe it is time we rethink about our holiday shopping traditions, very expensive traditions to be frank! Now, as we have talked a couple of times the fact that hundreds of thousands have been relocated to residential condominiums all over the city. As the very set up of the condos doesn’t give people much extra space except the unit in which you live traditions of slaughtering sheep and chicken might be slowing down. So many of those traditions are slowly fading away. Well, hmmm! Are they? Are they really fading away?
The business oriented youth of the city have stepped in and do the slaughtering business. So our ladies go to places where such services are rendered and return home with chicken breasts legs and what have you tucked in small plastic shopping bags; meaning there might be little in way of cutting on the usual holiday expenses.
Take the brewing of tella, a very popular local alcoholic drink, is a very tasking undertaking taking weeks even months to come out with the best brew. But the most important factor is that it needs space. It’s difficult even practically impossible to do it on the condo world. You know the various grains which go into tella have to dry out in the sun and later ground. (What the hell am doing here? Trying to act to give you some tella brewing recipe. If you think I’ve any right whatsoever to tell you what to do to come out with the best tella in town then I must issue some disclaimer in some media outlet.)
For most of us our only knowledge is that when a hundred kilo of teff shoots up to thirteen and fourteen thousand birr the world must really be coming ever closer to the End Times. No business person in their right mind could believe that the greater part of the population would come anywhere close to footing such a bill. No! For many even the very tough would be enough evidence of a brain apparatus which started malfunctioning. I mean when the walls are sliding nearer on all sides and you get the feeling any facial ‘oxygen’ you might have. Especially during times when a certain holiday is nearing the message you might have been trying to avoid hits home, and hits home hard; “We’re in economically tough times!”
I can tell you it isn’t always a good experience trying to convince others to cut back on holiday expenses. Of course, you’re doing it for their own benefits. But some people take it as some kind of an offence!
“Are you telling me my family shouldn’t enjoy the holiday like others do?”
“No sir, I’m not doing that. Sorry, if you’ve taken it as offence.” (Deep inside you springs that really nudges you umpteen times a day these days. “What’s wrong with people anyway?”
Holidays come and go; you can be dead sure about that. Sad we can’t say that when we come to the notes in our wallets. Yes they go in bundles. The only thing is their ‘coming back’ is not a done deal! Simply speaking, ‘done deals’ don’t always work for everything!
Go it easy when it comes to holiday expenses!
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 3 SEPTEMBER 2023