Man is a mobile or locomotive being that does not stay in one place for a long time as life demands his movement to acquire the necessities for survival. All things we need are not found in one place. They are scattered all over, near and far. We find one item in a certain place and the other elsewhere. They are not at equidistance from where the person lives; some are near while others are far. Places at close proximity to the place where the individual lives can be easily reached by walking which is enjoyable and is also recommended for health reasons furthermore, it does not cost any money.
There are reasons why people travel long-distance. Even though things we need are obtained, let us say, from a nearby shop or market, the issue of high price, against our will, compels us to travel long-distance. This is where we are confronted with the insurmountable challenges imposed on us by the so called taxi drivers. The taxis here in Ethiopia, like other African countries, are used on cost-sharing system. Unless by special arrangement made with private taxi, which is very expensive, there is no taxi meter, a device which automatically records the fare during a journey in the taxi.
Therefore the government sets fixed taxi fare that each passenger pays depending on the distance travelled. There is no negotiation in this situation. Nevertheless the driver and the attendant, in their desire to gain, illegally designed a vicious scheme at the expense of the passengers’ convenience during the journey.
The load capacity set by the manufacturers of the vehicle highly disregarded by the taxi drivers. The seats are meant to accommodate only twelve passengers but the attendant rather stashes more than eighteen into the taxi against the will of the passengers; at times they even subdue those who stand up for their rights of conveniently travelling; In severe case, the risk of physical assault is inevitable. Breaching the dictates of the law and loading passengers like commodities an indirect way of accumulating money by imposing extra charge that the law allows. One way or the other, more fare is what rings in their minds. Such is a lazy-man method to make money very easily.
The concept of a hard-work is never heard of with the taxi drivers and their attendants. They are bent on designing new means always, despite the opposition of the travellers; and for that matter, the convenience of the travellers is at stake. As much as possible, unless the traveller seriously demands, they are often reluctant to give the change that they owe the traveller. Unfortunately, some travellers forfeit the change they should receive just to avoid a raw with these hooligans who do not stop at doing anything until they get what they want. At times, they deny that they have received the fate at all. They are impossibly rough guys to reckon or settle accounts with. Under normal circumstance, any sane person takes into account the wellbeing of his customers; here it appears as though the taxi drivers and the attendants have never heard of such a thing.
Obviously, somebody takes a taxi to safely arrive at his destination in a short time. Yet, sometimes a situation comes to notice where these service renders demand the passengers get off the taxi before reaching the place of their preference. The passengers, either out of fear or naivety, succumb to the circumstance; it rather appears as if they willingly cooperate with them to their own disadvantage. The travellers, in cooperation should hold a firm ground in defending their rights of being taken to their destination for which they paid money. For the taxis, this situation is just a system to look for new passengers; a double fare during the same trip; another system to amass money without laboring much or lazily. It is a sort of giving with a spoon and receiving with a shovel – short cut to money accumulation with a very simple and easy task.
The problem of house rent, designed by brokers these days harasses household worker seekers. When both the husband and the wife are workers, apparently they need a maid servant, who cooks, cleans and looks after children. It is utterly difficult for a family, especially if there are children, to be without someone to help with house chores. Thus, this difficult situation has created an opportunity for the brokers to play dirty games of cheating those who come to them in need of household workers.
The brokers after arranging an employment contract with a certain family with a given amount of monthly salary. They bring the worker to her to the place of work assignment. Nevertheless, before long, they persuade her to quit her job and prepare for a new assignment with a seemingly better pay.
The worker on her part, with a pretext of a relative’s illness or death, quit the job and leave. The broker arranges a new work assignment and takes commission from both the worker and the new employer. The maid servant keeps moving from house to house, and the longest time she stays in one place does not exceed three months. With such unacceptable system the broker makes money without any difficulty and for that matter, he does not pay income tax. All in all, he cheats the employer, the maid and the government. With little effort he kills three birds with one stone; such is a disguised rewarding laziness; he abhors going out to earn his living with his labor. No conscience that governs all his undertakings and in fact he braves himself to leading his life in such manner shamelessly. Why should he bother himself while he avails himself to such a short cut to accumulating money? Why in the world should he dirty his hands for a job that does not pay him half as much he gets easily?
Students, too, greatly contribute to the laziness activities forgetting what is expected of them as genuine and hard-working future responsible citizens of the country. Forgetting the social expectation that lies ahead of them, they rely on their hard-working friends to be promoted from grade to grade by copying during exams.
Parents send their children with the hope that they would perform well in their education and become a pride for themselves and their country. On the contrary, the students chase their temporary pleasures that will later harm them and that they will regret, and it can be something that can harm them mentally and physically. Wrongly guided by emotion, they fail to employ reason in all their doings. They are inconsiderate of their future life, only concentrating on the present. Instead of striving for high stations in life, the status that places them in a situation where they can be self- sufficient and supporters of their parents who did all they could to see them become successful in whatever they do. The efforts made by their parents could have boosted zeal and courage at least their parents which in the process helps them to achieve their objectives.
Laziness rather makes us to live with squalor. We become indifferent to personal hygiene and sanitation of the environment we live in. If we fail to understand the benefits of sanitation and just live like animals, our health will definitely be affected and we suffer throughout our life. The strength with which we work and earn money will be taken from us and due to laziness we become dependents, and we are ridiculed by all. Let’s throw off laziness from our shoulders and stand erect and be tall in all situations. Never succumb to this malicious enemy of an ideal man.
The Ethiopian Herald July 21, 2019
BY JOSEPH SOBOKA
