Societal overhaul

Rules and regulations are not made to be broken.

So fragile and delicate are rules in fact, that brittle is the best word that describes them. Being brittle also means that rules do not even bend.

This count down year to the new millennium presents us with a new opportunity to make an extreme attitude makeover as we anticipate hundreds of thousands of guests. Are we mentally, socially and most of all, morally prepared to make a good impression? Or are we going to present ourselves as crude and uncouth people who frown on dining in open air but cheerfully accept urinating in public? Surely, we have to stop hypocrisies such as denouncing all trickery, theft and overcharging… as long as the victim is a ferenji?

Sadly we are not, by and large, a self regulating society that maintains order in the absence of enforcement. In myriad forms, in our offices, factories and other places, we resemble a bunch of rowdy school children going berserk as soon as the teacher steps out.

The most successful of societies have developed built in safe guards and function whether authority figures are present or not. Members of such a society constantly monitor that even the most minor of regulations are observed.

It is the amalgamation of the small details of community life that eventually makes for a great city or country. Law and order are two words but one in spirit, as it is the former which makes the latter possible. The rule of law is a product of need and is created by communities for the common good. So it is mind boggling that this same collective conscious also collectively works to circumvent the very rules and regulations meant for its welfare. What follows is a recounting of some every day instances in which many of us participate in and foster.

Exhibit I: When the cat is away, the mice shall play

The herd influence is close to the surface when controls loosen even momentarily. This is readily apparent in the way drivers, passengers and pedestrians behave. Taxi drivers routinely evade the laws with the cooperation of the public, all in the spirit of 'if we can get away with it, why not do it?' The problem affects many spectrums of society. The well off park their big flashy cars on sidewalks, oblivious of the congestion and traffic hazards they pose.

This lapse in societal control mechanisms is an unwelcome situation that we must rectify if we are to preserve our dignity.

Exhibit II: NIMBY - Not in my backyard

Continuing the symbolic instances of societal lapse, we must raise the issue of trash disposal. Many households suddenly remember to throw out their garbage only after it rains, at which time they sneakily open their gate, look left and right like felons, and clog the gutters with garbage that may include non-degradable plastics, qat twigs, entrails, and even dead animals. The trash may have left our compound but the neighbourhood remains our shared environment. The municipality should take note to supply each neighbourhood with adequate dumpsters that will be collected on a regular basis.

Exhibit III: The era of vulgarity

It is no secret that our traditionally mild mannered populace is fast becoming a swearing society, obsessed with the most vile obscenities. How are we to promote a new image of our country while having such a steep decline in decency?

Exhibit IV: The people friendly security guards

In this post 9/11 world, security concerns are a daily reminder of a more dangerous global dynamic. It is alarming therefore, that security guards in our country have a laid-back approach and for some unfathomable reason, do not search people they know or have searched before. One would be surprised to see how very simple it is to enter many sensitive areas unchecked, armed only with a smile and a courteous manner. This does not bode well for a country of considerable geopolitical importance.

The above four case examples are but a smattering of the many instances that require mass behavioural overhauling. It may be said that we should not have required an event such as the millennium to take stock of our shortcomings, but it is also foolhardy to be non-committal as we await hundreds of thousands of returning Ethiopians who will expect an Ethiopia that is at the very least a bit better than the one they left years ago.

Let us not give them cause to justify their exile by displaying the unsavoury side of Ethiopia - the very reasons why many of them left in the first place.

We have a beautiful country and our problems are not insurmountable, as we possess all the means to solve them. Let us be harshly self-critical and start weeding out the flaws in an otherwise sublime heritage.