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So Meskel will finally be held as usual this year. This time, the number of participants will be limited due to the Corona virus. Like the lifting of the state of emergency, the celebration of Meskel with the fire of bones and the gathering of thousands of people was one of the events that he least expected to happen. One thing that is still being forgotten is that the Corona virus started with very few people. Those few individuals were enough for the entire world to become infected with the virus and hundreds of thousands to die from it. The take-home message from this is that as long as a single person is infected, millions are still at risk of becoming infected. So this makes me wonder how people who will be part of a celebration that will still involve thousands of people are expected to protect themselves from the virus. Therefore, this year’s Meskel celebration can be expected to be a haven for the virus.
And we hear that the national elections will be held this Ethiopian year. The announcement came very shortly after the elections in the Tigray region were completed. And to our surprise, and I suppose for many others, we hear that the Tigray elections are going to be repeated because apparently the one that took place just a couple of weeks ago is illegal and should be annulled. For me, this is all like child’s play. First of all, what was the reason why the national elections were not held at the same time as the elections in the Tigray region? I will not be convinced if someone tells me that in two weeks a miracle happened that made the Corona pandemic no longer a risk to the health of society. For me, all the wars of words between the federal government and that of Tigray about the timing of the elections were in vain. Second, wouldn’t it be grossly disrespectful to the people of Tigray to completely nullify their attempts to vote? And this without a form of dialogue between the federal government and that of Tigray?
I’m not sure if that is also the case in other cultures, but one of the typical characteristics that characterize us Ethiopians is what we call in Amharic ‘Yilugnta’. That means the act of caring too much about what others would say or think of us. In my opinion, yilugnta is one of the culprits for the spread of the virus in the country. People attend funerals because they care so much about what the deceased’s family and friends would say about them if they did not show up for the funeral. And this regardless of whether they know the true cause of death, which by the way may be the Corona virus. The same goes for other social gatherings. People worry too much about what others would think if they did not attend. Apparently, what others would think is more important than the risk of infection. Isn’t that weird? People are embarrassed to keep their masks on their faces when they join a group of people who don’t wear masks. They think that keeping their masks would make them an outcast. People send their children to play with a group of children in the neighborhood without the slightest knowledge about the health of other children and their families. They think that preventing their children from going out would make them considered an ‘Akabaj’ in Amharic, or a person who likes to complicate the simplest things. What people tend to forget is that the moment we catch it and get sick, people won’t care much about us. And if we die from the virus, the best we will get from those whose thoughts worry us deeply is a Tsk on the lips for a couple of days. So why risk our lives worrying too much about others and thinking about our precautionary measures?
