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From: hbokure@aol.com
Date: Mon Nov 08 2010 - 14:25:13 EST
selam Berhane and Dehayers,
By coincidence I was talking with a lady from Mid Eastern country regarding the failure of keeping an appointment in a society such as ours in which time is less valued. She told me that it is the same habit in her respective country. Years ago, a certain Ferenji who was disappointed with Government officials in Addis Ababa said, " Yabesha QoToro shi nege" meaning the Abyssinians' appointment is thousands tomorrows. As Latinos fond of saying siempre maNana (toujours demain or sempre domani) or in Arabic koul daeman. Such habit colors every aspect of our every day conversation discouraging us to work in collaborative and dependable manner. No wonder, even the highly educated Eritreans are victims of such infanctional behavior, and its impact on our nation building is beyond measure at a time when we are living in a fast moving world. It is to be recalled that I explained in detail in my article entitled " The Gentlemen of Culture" attributed to corporate world.
Haile
-----Original Message-----
From: Berhane Alazar <erigram@comcast.net>
To: dehai <dehai@dehai.org>
Sent: Mon, Nov 8, 2010 9:41 am
Subject: [DEHAI] Re: [DEHAI] No, you are not ‘running late’, you are rude and selfish
Hear! Hear! Hear!
How about the silly slogan “qotsera Habesha”? Who said that it was ours and who made it ours? I know we, Eritreans, do excel in many, many things. But I would not want to excel in habitually being late and somehow take pride of it. Folks, that is not a habit to be proud of; and unless and until we realize that and act upon it, then I am afraid that is one “Culture” that is not going to help us get out of the negative stereotype we find ourselves! And, when one thinks about it, it should not be such an unusual request. We all honor such commitment in our work place! Why not in our social, political and personal engagements? Don’t act like a turkey! It is called lack of self discipline not “qotsera Habesha”.
Berhane