Selamat dehaiers,
The last few days, I have been reading this '2%' discussions and have to
admit that some people from both sides made a lot of sense to me.
Disagreements are healthy; closely watching your government and making
constructive comments are always vital to a nation's development; it should
not alarm anyone. The one thing that I personally have difficulty with and
forced me to write, is the 'boycott in Australia'. I don't feel we should go
that far, my personal opinion.
Sometimes solutions seem to be illusively simple but in most cases they're
not as easy as they seem to be. While reading the discussions, I was
thinking out loud and saying, "ya!, you're right" to one argument;
again when I read the counter-argument, I was saying, "yeap! that makes
sense too". This is not because I am indecisive or uninformed person, but
because the solution to the issue is not as easy as it seems to be, hence
quite a few arguments from both sides made some sense; which reminded me of
a story about a wise old man.
Two very close friends got into a heated argument which got off hand. Soon
these friends stopped talking to each other. Finally, a very well respected
elderly man heard the sad story and decided to resolve the problem. He went
and asked the first person what seemed to be the cause of the problem. The
man told his story in a very convincing way. After listening silently with
his head slightly bowed, the old-timer raised his head in a slow motion,
paused for a moment and said, "kemu inteKoynus HaqKa zwedei" (If that's the
case, I guess you are right, son). He then proceeded to talk to his
adversary; the second man was even more convincing that the first. The old
man, more convinced by the second man, shook his head and said, "kemu
inteKoynus HaqKa zwedei" and left confused. While all this was happening, the
old-timer's son was with him and was frustrated by his old man's answers and
with anger said, "Pa! how could you say that? you told the first guy he was
right; the second guy told you exactly the opposite of the first, but you
told him he was right too, how could that be? One of them has to be wrong,
c'mon man! this ain't right." The old man listened to his son patiently and
said, "nsKawn HaqKa zwedei" (you're also right, son).
Moral of the story: It does not necessarily mean that only one side can be
right, sometimes two views could be diametrically opposite but both could
make sense or even be right at the same time, depending on how you look at
them; like, the glass is half-full or half-empty.
Final word: Sometimes there might be multiple solutions to a seemingly simple
but in reality complex problem. It is human nature to go with a solution that
seems to be obvious, quenches our desire, and is not against our principles.
Nevertheless, prior to arriving a final solution, the problem should be
revisited and the solution reviewed and analyzed if it serves its intended
purpose. This might not be as simple in some cases also, which forces us to
go with our gut reaction. There were times were I doubted the government's
decisions; however, the results were positive. The government has earned
most of our respect in the past as most would agree with me, even those
who disagree with the government's decision in this particular case,
have supported it in the past and I have no doubt they will continue in the
future. Though, the rationale behind it is not that obvious for me to see,
this time as in the past, I have confidence that there is a good reason for
doing what they're doing and hopefully it turns out to be for the best
interest of our people.
Tesfay
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