A tune dwelled inside my head and wouldnt leave and I kept humming it unconsciously. When I realized that I was doing it, I had to find out its source: my son tampered with my cell-phone ringer options. Every time I got a call that ugly tune played. I changed the ringer to the conventional ringing tone and saved my sanity. Dont you feel the same when you read monotonous writings with a stale wailing tune, that sounds like a spinster cursing the ex-spouse years after the divorce was consummated? then they splintered, then they become regionalists, then they became more regionalist and finally they became monsters and grew horns on their head -- next time you see Ahmed Nasser, Adhanom or doctor Beyene, check the horns on their heads. This is their passa tempo when another monster, with raindeer horns, is wreaking havoc in our nation.
That was an intro, a distracting intro. Now lets go to the Basenjis And Rabid Dogs Last week, a colleague came back to our workplace in distress pulling two little cute dogs. A short while earlier he had gone out to stroll during his lunch break and found the dogs wondering, apparently lost. The dogs looked healthy, well-fed and groomed, obviously wealthy housedogs. After looking around for their owners in the parking lot and the surrounding offices with no hope in sight, he gave up and decided to call the telephone numbers on the dogs tags- there was no reply. He then reached for the yellow pages and called the animal help-line. Twenty-minutes later, someone who looked like a veterinarian came in a van and took the dogs to a government shelter where they were certainly checked for disease, fed, and taken care of until their grieving owners arrived. I looked back and contemplated the difference between societies that respect animals, let alone human beings and those that dont, the difference between wealth and poverty and between civilization and backwardness. Dont exaggerate, an Eritrean friend told me, we love our pets so much that we let them roam the streets freely, even when we know they are sick he said. Maybe true, but not all dogs are pets and not all pets are dogs. Owners should take care of their pets, but stray dogs, with foam in their mouth, are just hazardous creatures. Months ago I wrote about the Basenji dogs, the loyal and timid type of dogs, the preferred pets of the pharaohs. Today, I will tell you about my experience with a specific, wolf-like dog, that resembled the German Shepherd, a mean dog that stole years of my childhood. That was Ambess, The Mean Dog I grew up in a neighborhood that, as far as I am concerned, had only one dog- a mean, scary dog: Ambess. Across the street, there was another insignificant big-structured but disproportionately skinny dog, probably a Labrador, and I dont think he had a name- such ugly dogs couldnt possibly have names. There was also another dog in the neighborhood, an African hound named Saroukh; I am discounting it because Saroukh spent his time from down to dusk in the far pastures of Qasetai or Shifshfeet accompanying a cattle shepherd. Saroukh didnt interfere with my freedom during the day, and I didnt care about his continuous barking at the Ethiopian soldiers who spied nightly on the neighborhood to sniff any opportunity that they presented as an excuse to harass the helpless families. I have nothing against Saroukh. I am interested in Ambess, the only dog that violated years worth of freedom from my childhood, the very mean dog -- how could you walk past a dog that is looking you in the eyes, ready to jump and maul you? How would you confront a paranoid dog that is always looking for enemies in innocent little children who want nothing but to play unhindered? How would you trust a dog that singles out a few children to attack and scare all the time? I endured the arrogance of Ambess for too long until I couldnt take his aggression anymore. A friend suggested that I mend fences with Ambess: TeAareqo, befriend him, he told me! How do you reconcile and befriend a dog that is hell-bent on attacking you without any reason? The friend suggested that I give Ambess some food, meat, and rub his back. It took a lot of convincing and finally, though the idea sounded weird, I gave it a try. I spend my pocket money and bought Ambess some leftover meat from the butchery of Am Tserarat. Then, as humbly as a priest would approach a religious altar to present a sacrifice, I approached Ambess holding the meat on my stretched hands and smiling like an idiot. The mean dogs eyes were wide open and seemed as if they were going to pop off the sockets of his skull anytime. I was sweating and trembling and, my friend encouraging me, I got closer and offered my qurban to Ambess. The dog become calmer and started to eat my offerings while I trembled and rubbed his nave. The moment he swallowed the last bite, without a notice, he jumped at me and I run for dear life. That is how mean Ambess was- I gave him meat that I bought with my own money and he was going to pay me back by continuing his aggressive behavior! What else can I do? Nothing. I gave up walking through the alley where Ambess lived all together. I was exiled from that alley-- incidentally, at this moment, years later, I am exiled from that same alley by another dog, another mean aggressive non-Ambess. With Ambess, the struggle was all about Claiming Ones Freedom It took me years to get over that betrayal by the mean dog and I was growing up all the time wanting to find a way to protect myself from Ambess. And as time went by, I was gaining some courage and wished to bring the rivalry between Ambess and me to an end - I was not going to take Ambess intimidation any more. An old relative, who knew my enmity with Ambess, advised me to be brave and confront Ambess, to fight back. He told me that dogs would never stop harassing you unless they discover you are going to fight back! Is that so? It was an idea worth exploring. I got myself a big stick, a snnefai, a perfect self-defense weapon that I believed I was justified to use against anyone who was stealing my freedom. After collecting myself, deep breath and determination, I carried the big stick and walked straight to the alleyby now Ambess alley. I was not disappointed; Ambess was having his afternoon siesta under the cool old Gaaba tree. The moment he saw me, he wore his mean face mask, stood alert, barked, and started to walk towards me. My blood boiled and I felt a strong charge of adrenalin all over my body. I dashed towards him like a fool and didnt wait until he attacked me. I forcefully landed my stick on Ambess back. He let out a sharp cry, bent his back in pain and became motionless. I wanted to give him another one when he turned back and run away making painful shrieks and disappeared from the alley. I liberated the ALLEY. At that moment, I swear I heard a faint sound of an imaginary song, an Alley National Anthem being played. A typical la-assed-assed-qetleyu, as the Massawans would say. I couldnt believe what I witnessed. Ambess running away from me? Is it real now the roles are reversed? What a relief! I was smiling happily -- I liberated my alley from Ambess, the mean dog that occupied it for too long! It meant I could walk freely and live like the other children, without intimidation. I was free. Ambess dictatorship was crushed. When my old relative found out about the battle in the alley, he laughingly commented: al Assaya Kherejet mn AlJenna- The stick hails from paradise. To this day, I dont know if the owner of Ambess, a relative, ever discovered the incident. But he should, I never set foot in his house until I solved my problems with Ambess. By the time I left, Ambess was so nice he wouldnt even glance towards me. And as if he was not that aggressive macho of a dog, he was growing older and his health was deteriorating quickly. All this followed that duel between Ambess and me - whether the stick hailed from heaven or hell, I never found out. To me, the stick was a justified self-defense and a positive self-assertiveness by a child; and it surely brought about the wanted result. Hammurabi would have been very proud to see his justice applied: if a dog bites you, bite back - an aggressive dog deserves to even have his ears bitten off and make a headline news. Now, what do you say- should I have submitted to Ambess and his bullying instead of assertively claiming my freedom? Should I have continued to struggle peacefully against Ambess? Or should I have just rented my freedom by giving him food every morning? Was I wrong when I believed that Justice, fitHI, works with dogs and humans alike?
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
|
