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Lessons from the playpen

By Tesfu Telahoun

Dominoes, lego blocks and jigsaw puzzles were my favorite playmates as a moody, introspective child. Apart from keeping a restless 10 year old enthralled for hours on end, these toys in their individual ways taught me –or at least my subconscious, about life and the greater scheme of things.
Of course, we grew up in much simpler and in many respects, happier times when just being a kid was enough. We did not have the smart toys of today, no Wi or PS-3, in fact, todays ever present remote control was a sci–fi item in our day. No, people of my generation had it one of two ways. If from a lower income family, chances were that marbles or at most, a 1 birr ball would be the sum of their toychest. We luckier ones-‘Yemoja lejotch’, could afford the more educational kind of plaything – like my dominoes, Lego and jigsaw puzzles.
Thank God for being born too early to dull our brains and desensitize our hearts with the violent video games today’s kids are subjected to …but I stray. My intention today is to share with you what I have learned from seemingly insignificant childhood games and how these insights can relate to the wider issue of Ethiopia.
Dominoes are those small rectangular blocks divided on one side into two equal areas, each of which is either blank or marked with from one to six dots. There are several ways of playing dominoes but by far the simplest and most enjoyable is the cascade. Line up your dominoes in any shape or number, build towers, bridges and what have you and then … nudge the first block and sit back in delight as the domino effect catches like wild fire. As each block hits the next, the clicks and whirrs become a lesson in how things relate to one another – Cause and Effect 101.
The dominoes of real life go somewhat like that lecturers’ favorite scenario: Boss gets humbling call from headquarters. Furiously slams down phone (after hanging up politely, of course) and barks at secretary to call Mr. K, who enters meekly to be told off by Mr Boss. Incensed, K pushes aside the secretary as he marches out and goes home. He ignores his wife, who complains until he gives her a good one. She screams and for no apparent reason, slaps her child silly. The bawling kid runs out and viciously kicks the dog which promptly starts chasing the cat…
Imagine this sort of thing happening on a national scale and maybe a picture emerges of what present day Ethiopian society feels like. Anger routinely displaced on others who in sympathetic detonation, infect more others just like the delightful game of dominoes but acidic; soured by bitterness.
Lego blocks it used to be said, when toys were “unsophisticated”, developed a child’s sense of logic, reasoning, and creativity. To refresh understandably dimming memory, they were hollow inside, colorful and had little perforations and stubs to join them together into any fanciful structure. Castles, planes, ships, cars…the possibilities were limited only by the imagination of the lucky child.
I well remember being told to build the blocks one by one. The foundation first, then the walls and roof, and finally the chimney. So impatient is a kid with Lego blocks that he or she will rush to put on the last piece before all the walls are done. You can not skip a wall here and a piece of roof there. It is all or nothing. Sort of like a society.
The components are the various peoples, nations and nationalities that make up our country. Lego blocks if you will. Each piece as important as the other but totally useless alone. In the whole structure, we can see intertwined fates, shared destinies and the accumulated log of common highs and lows.
Just like the slightest shove brings a cascade of falling dominoes, a well built Lego house will endure strong and true if the pieces are joined just so.
Dominoes teach us that when one falls others will soon tumble. The humble Lego block shows that if each separate entity is to ensure its place in that structure, it has to stick with the others. Finally, on that finished house, we can place the pedestal-our centerpiece of unity in diversity.
It is grasping the intricacies of falling dominoes and integrated pieces of Lego blocks that also made me wonder if after all, what is a nation but a jigsaw puzzle? We are none of us smooth around the edges. Each of us and by association that grouping we call ours, are diamonds in the making. And we all must not forget that as in a jigsaw puzzle, strength is acquired from the raggedness of the edges. Were the rims smooth and even-the pieces would fall out all the more easier-ruining the bigger picture.