This is a follow up to my previous article entitled: Ethiopia Anew: A Call to Amhara Ethnic People. One needs to read first my recent articles entitled: Wholesome Ethiopiawinet: Unity & Beyond and its background Ethiopia Anew: The 10 Theses in order to understand the gist of this article.
Accept Our Heartfelt Identification with You
You have a choice to hear and accept those of us who are standing in the gap to agree with your pain (means confess in Greek); change our thinking about you because of our agreement (means repent in Greek); join forces with all to birth a new Ethiopia in a spirit of Wholesome Ethiopiawinet (means discovering our true identity).
You also have a choice to dismiss those of us who are reaching out to you in love, and instead embrace hate, bitterness, and revenge.
Nothing good comes out of hate and bitterness. It only makes you a prisoner of the past. This in turn holds Ethiopia (and yourself) hostage from having a future. Therefore, be yourself, you are loving people who give meaning to decency. Choose to love, and forgive. This is the well-known Divine order for releasing healing. Then only you can move on forward as a free people.
Accept Your Destiny as a Center of the New Ethiopia
You are the center of Ethiopia interconnecting the diverse ethnicities that are spread around you in a circle. Even the capital city of Ethiopia is at your center. You and Ethiopia are linked inseparably as the two faces of the same entity. Here you have no choice – you are it. You are the soul of Ethiopia, Ethiopia cannot exist without you. You too cannot exist by yourself without Ethiopia. Unlike you, most any other ethnic group practically can exist by itself apart from Ethiopia the same way Eritrea does. Destiny didn’t give you that option, accept your destiny and exhibit your greatness.
Therefore, you cannot save yourself and abandon Ethiopia at the same time. All the time you do so, you sabotage from being known as you truly are. It is time you talk louder than any body else about the New Ethiopia in a spirit of Wholesome Ethiopiawinet. Your existence depends on it.
Accept Your Destiny to Lead Us into the Future: The New Ethiopia
You are the largest people group in Ethiopia. Despite this fact you are marginalized and abused. Your great brokenness has lifted you up to be the One to lead us forward as one Family under Our Creator. In the past, things were easy. Exercising force was the tool to construct Ethiopia. Now things have changed. Your tool is only love to construct the New Ethiopia. The world holds you to the highest standard in the 21st century. You have been prepared from the beginning of time for a time like this. Embrace love and find out what you are made of for real and what you are capable of doing. You will be our wonder. Only hate and bitterness keep you from your God given destiny to lead us to the Ethiopia: the super model of the world. Live out your calling by causing all Ethiopians hold hands with each other to stand together as one people for a New Ethiopia as never before.
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Dr. Zelalem Eshete may be reached at: one@EthioFamily.com
Dr. Zelalem, Why Greek?
Why Oromo ethnic people?
Why Amhara ethnic people? I don’t think you are aware how hopelessly you have fallen into the ethnic trap you are trying to disentangle others from.
Why “our heartfelt identification with you?” Who are the “we?” Or, who are you?
What destiny are you talking about?
You sound more like a self-help manual.
You write, “Here you [“Oromo ethnic people”] have no choice – you are it. You are the soul of Ethiopia, Ethiopia cannot exist without you. You too cannot exist by yourself without Ethiopia. Unlike you, most any other ethnic group practically can exist by itself apart from Ethiopia the same way Eritrea does.” Are you sure “most any ethnic can exist by itself?” I don’t know what kind of world you inhabit. You unilaterally declare “Oromo ethnic people” are the “soul of Ethiopia.”
You add, [“Oromo ethnic people”] are the center of Ethiopia interconnecting the diverse ethnicities that are spread around you in a circle.” This is so childish I am wondering if you ever lived in Ethiopia. There is an appropriate saying for such shoddy and unthinking piece of petty demagoguery አላዋቂ ሳሚ ንፍጥ ይለቀልቃል
Dear Dr. Zelalem,
I couldn’t get the center of your staggering “persuasive” piece. Can you tell me what your destiny is before you try to instruct the Oromo people where their destiny is? You 100% believe that Oromo cannot exist without Ethiopia and vice versa. My question is, why have you raised such a topic? Who said Oromo should abandon Ethiopia? One point that you should understand about the Oromo people is that the Oromo always embrace guests or people who don’t belong to them by their nature; if you want to prove this, go back in time and study Oromo history. The other point is, Oromo people are not longing for separation (some parties or groups of Oromo elites may do), but for due respect and due place in the key administrative posts. For example, if we are truly democratic people, Oromo must be the Prime Minister of Ethiopia because Oromo is the majority in the country. In the end, please don’t try to philosophize while what you are trying to preach can boil down to “Let’s live together in harmony”.
OROMO WILL NOT BE PRIME MINISTER.
why not?
this type of disrespect and discriminatory statement done not do any good for unity and cooperation. dear friends what we need is cooperation, accommodation compromise and open-mindedness. The type of Amsalu are either agent of woyane Agazi who are paid to create division. Oromos as an Ethiopian have equal chances to be who they want to be as far as they have the intellect and leadership qualities.
So will Amhara! Amsalu ‘Mosisa’.
Do you know it is Oromo who led this country more that any ethenic group in Ethiopia since its establishment. Our only question is the leaders should be proud of who they are. They are Oromo first and Ethiopian next.
well articulated , any body who KNOWS ethiopia & its diverse peoples are interconnected by oromos could understand this , amhara & somali have no many things in common, almost no blood tie , but oromo is intermarried with both ethinic groups deeply , it also applies with other ethnic groups too; look the gurages in sodo area , look raya . . . . . . but OLF inspired the oromo people with an ideology & political orientation which do not practically suit the diverse & great oromo ,…..But Dr Zelalem saw all these
“any body who KNOWS ethiopia & its diverse peoples are interconnected by oromos could understand this ”
There is no question on the interconnectedness of the diverse group. The questions and the grievances are in the type of interconnectedness in the successive regime from Menelik to the current Agazi woyanes.
For the student of Ethiopian history, it is very clear the interconnectedness were not a relationship of equality or mutual respect. It was subjugation, sometime barbaric, it is a relationship that sacrificed identity, deprived culture and language and appropriation of labor and wealth. This is the type of things we have to deal and ask ourselves. We must try to untangle oneself from one-sided and biased history and find a mutual understanding of our past and create our future that reflects interconnectedness where one true identity respected and not sacrificed in favor of imposed identity and spearhead the fight against the tyranny of the Agazis.
This is a handout from self-help book. This seem to me the author Dr. Z doing a marriage counseling. It seems saying dear husband and wife, you are destined to live together, you vow to live and die together. Dear Dr. Z, this shows your static historical knowledge of your country and above all misunderstanding to the long history f he Oromo people. From your own argument, the Oromo can not stand by themselves while other can, this is impertinent to the history of the Oromos and the Oromo people.
Dialogue between concerned parties is the way ahead and the way to go.