Tough times; real tough times wherever you go on this planet of ours. Somehow things appear to be moving in a different directions than those we would have like to see them to take. So, naturally at least with individuals there are lots and lots of frustrations making life not only tough but even difficult. I remember sometime back there was this guy who falls out of favor with the top brass of his employers. If you had gone out trying to investigate the real reason why the guy was in such hot waters chances are you, too, would end up frustrated. The narratives don’t come in full and in ways they could sway opinions.. The guy’s stories and the official versions are so different you’d wonder if they were talking about the same issue. I mean it’s astounding to the length we go to make our narratives sound legitimate. The most powerful and engaging words and terms are employed. Somehow is seem our hidden literary genes jump into action in such situations. The way the guy narrated the alleged abuse he suffered you’d think a slight push and he’d go over the red line and no one would even guess what he might do.
On the other hand the only official warning letter too was so powerfully structured you‘d wonder if what should have been an organizational issue was personalized. After a couple of weeks of bureaucratic haggling the ax falls. As ‘punishment’ his status was downgraded one level and his monthly pay slashed mercilessly. To top it all he was assigned to an office hundreds of kilometers from Addis not anywhere to his pre-crisis position but as a low clerk. The brass couldn’t have made the ‘punishment’ any more biting! Even without knowing the mistakes (even ‘sins’) the guy has committed you can’t help feeling sorry for him. One would expect the fellow who is a professional to call it quits and bang the door in the faces of his bosses; “Thank you and no thank you!” Bang! He was transferred to a branch office of the organization hundreds of kilometers form Addis.
It was only later that the truth, at least partial truth, started coming out. It happened this guy disagrees with his immediate boss about a certain project. The project was a multimillion venture and the organization expected to get much needed money. Now the fellow being the professional he is was supposed to put his signature of approval. He refused to do so saying there was especially one part which he said was confusing and had to be rewritten; confusing in the sense that it was open to be interpreted in a number of ways. Such confusing sentences or even paragraphs are inserted deliberately so some big shots would twist them to their benefits. The guy well aware of this fact to didn’t want himself to be implicated in any wrong doing and demanded for a rewrite of the confusing part. The bosses refused outright and they didn’t even take time to hear him out in full. The case is still wide open and he is appealing their transfer decision. Leaving for good would be a little tricky as he had taken he loans from the organization and there was no way he’d get his release paper until he balances the books. Given the tough times we’re in that in no way would be simple.
The talk is that his behavior is somewhat going off the rails as his nicer sides are thinning out. Frustrated as he’s, so goes the narratives, he’s taking his frustrations out on the innocent. On the frontlines are his wife and his two pre-teen kids. Look there is some ‘common factor’ in such narratives. The victims usually is painted as the innocent soul only handful of whom we might find on this planet of ours. Our guy is taken as the innocent victim in his fight with the brass. He might be the victim but him being innocent would be nothing than a fairy tale. At one time he was accuse of abusing those few people under him and playing the favoritism case. Here is the story he’d probably would do anything to bury. The talk was he had an affair with another married woman and this dented his reputation severely. That’s why staff support for his disputes didn’t materialize as he would have liked or as many would have expected.
So back to his change of behavior. It isn’t that justice was done to him; only time and the records would tell that. But he’s giving his wife a hell of a time for absolutely no reason. In fact in one drunken rage instance he told her that he never planned to marry her and theirs was an accidental marriage. For the first time ነ the family’s life he struck his nine year old son accusing him of the TV remote. He didn’t apologize.
They say he’s accusing everybody of ganging up on him. He’s scolding entire communists even trying to give things political angle. It’s understandable that anyone abused or mistreated feels hurt. Theirs is the condition no one wants to find themselves in. But them taking out our frustrations on entire communities, groups or individuals isn’t the smartest thing to do. Unfortunately these days pointing the accusing finger on everybody and anybody for wrongs done by individuals or small groups is more the common than we’d have liked to think. The social media has made things worse and we indeed are in raging waters when it comes to social interactions. Respect and the wonderful feeling of camaraderie is nowhere near where we’d want them to be.
If there is an unfaithful wife in a certain relationship accusing all womenfolk is probably a sign of minds which need some real overhaul. If the husband is a 24/7 alcohol guzzling beast who cares neither for himself nor for his family taking all husbands as irresponsible drunkards with “Oh, husbands! They do nothing worthy except go all over town filling their bladders with alcohol while their families don’t have enough plates on the dinner table.
How about fighting our own fights and leaving the innocent and the uninvolved to their undisturbed world!
Ephrem Endale Contributer
The Ethiopian Herald April 7/2024
