Words by Ashenafi

Time Travel

I have always wished I could travel in time. And no, it is not to change the past, kill Hitler, or do anything drastic.

Think about it. We all find ourselves stuck in situations that test our patience - stuck in traffic, buffering videos, endless loading screens. In these situations, I would get annoyed (just like anyone else). But it also makes me wish I could just go back in time and experience how people used to live in the past. Imagine waiting three months just to get a letter to someone across the ocean, then another three months to get their reply. Today, we can talk in real time with someone on the opposite side of the world but we still get mad when someone doesn't pick up the phone and we have to wait a few more minutes.

Just a few decades ago, you’d have to wait for your favorite movie to show in theaters and stand in line, hoping there’d be a ticket left. Or you might hear a song over a radio and you will be lucky if you hear the same song ever again. Now we have entire libraries of media at our fingertips. We can stream music or binge-watch shows on demand, but we’re still irritated if an episode takes too long to buffer.

We have bullet trains and planes that take us across continents in hours, but we are still impatient. Imagine how long it took, traveling on horseback or on foot.

But this doesn't stop here. Technology will continue to improve and one day who knows humanity will be able to teleport or communicate through telepathy. I would love to time travel to that time and experience how we are going to feel. Are we going to be still impatient, or will we finally feel like we’ve arrived?

#time_travel #technology

Perfect or Not?

You're working on a project and feel it could be improved a hundred times over, but your boss sees it and says, "This is perfect."

Then there are times you're excited about a project, thinking you'll impress the boss, but he just looks at you and says, "What is this?"

#CreativeStruggles #BossReactions

9
How much control do we have in our life?

This was the question I have always asked myself, a topic I have always wanted to write about. Surely, we are affected by many things. We might get angry by an unexpected event or uplifted by a kind word. But how much of it we can control or influence?

I recently found an article that answers this question beautifully. So, I might as well share that.

Article: An argument for logging off

Spoiler:

…one thing that I have control over, which is myself. Just me! That's it. My thoughts, attitude, perspective, actions. That's the only thing I really control. (And sometimes it feels like I barely control that.)

#ControlAndInfluence

8
Just Luck

I have lost faith in our law enforcement capabilities. It seems like whether you get punished or rewarded has less to do with your actions and more with luck.

Recently, at the end of the semester, I didn't complete one of my projects but still received almost full marks (shh don't tell anyone). I didn't bother to talk to the teacher or come up with excuses. Meanwhile, my classmates had to submit a 20-page handwritten assignment for another course (as a punishment for skipping classes and not submitting assignments as a result). We all made the same mistake, but I was lucky enough to have የማያካብድ አስተማሪ.

Well, who cares about school assignments anyway. But this problem happens everywhere. It happens on the road. Two cars can make the same mistake and one driver gets away and the other gets punished just because the weather was a little hot that day. It happens in courtrooms. When someone commits a crime the first thing they ask is not "What does the law say about this crime?". The first thing they ask is "Who is the judge/detective assigned to the case?"

The randomness of who evaluates an individual's actions, that individual's mood, the time of day, or even the weather often outweighs the actions themselves in determining outcomes, both positive and negative.

The most bizarre thing is that people who get away with doing bad things act like they deserve it. They might think they're smarter or better than others because they didn't face any consequences.

On the other hand, those who follow the rules and still face punishment might feel frustrated. They see that their good behavior doesn't always pay off, which can make them question why they bother following rules at all.

But in the grand schema of things I (want to) believe in karma (or whatever you want to call it). We might not see the consequences of our actions immediately but they will come around soon or later.

#luck #fairness #law #karma

7
የየዋህነት ደረጃዎች

አቡነ አትናትዮስ እስክንድር ተግባራዊ ክርስትና በሚለው መፅሃፋቸው ላይ (ዲያቆን ሄኖክ ኃይሌ እንደተረጎመው) የዋህነትን በሦስት ደረጃዎች ከፍለው ያስቀምጡታል።

1. ክፉን በክፉ አለመመለስ

2. ስድብን የውስጥ ስሜት ሳይለወጥ መቀበል
አንዳንድ ሰዎች ክፉን በክፉ ላይመልሱ ይችላሉ ነገር ግን ውስታቸው በንዴት እና በበቀል ስሜት ሊሞላ ይችላል።

3. ክፉ ነገር ሲደርስብን እኛ ይቅርታ መጠየቅ መቻል።

...ከተሰደበ በሗላ "ወድንሜን እኔን በመሳደብ ሃጢያት ውስጥ ከተትኩት" ብሎ ለሰደበው ወንድሙ የሚያዝን...

እነዚን ሶስት ደረጃዎች በፈጣሪአችን እየሱስ ክርስቶስ ውስጥ ማየት እንችላለን። እየሱስ በጥፊ ሲመቱት፣ ሲገርፉት፣ ሲሰቅሉት መልሶ አልተማታም፣ ሲያስተምረንም

- "እኔ ግን እላችኋለሁ፤ ክፉውን አትቃወሙ፤ ዳሩ ግን ቀኝ ጉንጭህን በጥፊ ለሚመታህ ሁሉ ሁለተኛውን ደግሞ አዙርለት"
- "እኔ ግን እላችኋለሁ፤ በሰማያት ላለ አባታችሁ ልጆች ትሆኑ ዘንድ ጠላቶቻችሁን ውደዱ፤ የሚረግሙአችሁንም መርቁ፤ ለሚጠሉአችሁም መልካም አድርጉ፤ ስለሚያሳድዱአችሁም ጸልዩ፤ እርሱ በክፎዎችና በበጎዎች ላይ ፀሐይን ያወጣልና፤ በጻድቃንና በኃጢአተኞችም ላይ ዝናቡን ያዘንባልና።" ቢሎ አስተምሮናል።
- በቀራንዮ አደባባይ ሲሰቅሉትም "አባት ሆይ፥ የሚያደርጉትን ኣያውቁምና ይቅር በላቸው" ብሎ ነው።

Now a question for all of us: ራሳችሁን የትኛው ደረጃ ላይ ነን ብላችሁ ታስባላችሁ?

6
Why don't we treat ourselves the way we treat others?

Recently a friend of mine told me on his birthday that he wished he hadn't been born (this was on his birthday). I told him, 'Don't think like that. You have a purpose here - and your presence is more important than you think. Ironically, I felt the same way at the time, but I didn't say it to myself.

Similarly, my father showed signs of illness a few years ago. The family advised him to go to the hospital, but he kept saying 'I'm fine'. One day he fainted. The family said, 'We told you to go to the hospital. I realized then that if I were in his position, I would do the same. Everyone would.

When we're sick, we avoid the hospital, but it's the first place we tell others to go. When we are down, we engage in negative self-talk, but we know how to cheer others up. But why? Why don't we treat ourselves the way we treat others?

#self_care #question

Small acts of kindness can make a big difference for someone else. Even little gestures that may seem unimportant to us can mean everything to others. So, don't hesitate to be kind, even if it's just a small action.

#thoughts #kindness

4
Born a Crime - Book review (sort of)

After an hour or so of waiting, she opened her unbandaged eye. The second
she did, I lost it. I started bawling. She asked for some water and I gave her a
cup, and she leaned forward a bit to sip through the straw. I kept bawling and
bawling and bawling. I couldn't control myself.

> "Shh," she said. "Don't cry, baby. Shhhhh. Don't cry."

> "How can I not cry, Mom? You almost died."

> "No, I wasn't going to die. I wasn't going to die. It's okay. I wasn't going
to die."

> "But I thought you were dead." I kept bawling and bawling. "I thought I'd
lost you."

> "No, baby. Baby, don't cry. Trevor. Trevor, listen. Listen to me. Listen."

> "What?" I said, tears streaming down my face.

> "My child, you must look on the bright side."

> "What? What are you talking about, 'the bright side'? Mom, you were shot
in the face. There is no bright side."

> "Of course there is. Now you're officially the best-looking person in the
family."

She broke out in a huge smile and started laughing. Through my tears, I
started laughing, too.

---

The above text is from Trevor Noah's book Born a Crime - Stories from a South African Childhood. The book is great, but the part that resonates with me the most is the above conversation between Trevor and his mother. It made me appreciate mothers' love and their enormous strength.

For context, when growing up Trevor's mother used to tease him about how she is the best-looking person among the family. One day she got shot in the face by her ex-husband. The above conversation took place the day after she went under surgery. Even under so much pain, she had the strength to joke about it in order not to make her son feel sad/hopeless. I think that is amazing.

#book_review

3
The Story of My Life

I don't know if the title is suitable for this post or not. I recently came across this phrase in an article or YouTube video and I liked it. I am usin' it. 🤷‍♂️.

You know what motivational speakers say.

There will always be voices telling us we can't achieve our dreams. But those voices don't define us. We have the power to choose our own path, to believe in ourselves, and to silence the doubt. Let's listen to the whispers of our own potential and turn them into roars of success.

But relax I am not here to talk about that. In fact, I am here to talk about the exact opposite. What do you do when the whole world tells you "You are smart enough", "you are talented enough", or "You are beautiful enough", but you don't believe them. What do you do when people's perception of you and your internal beliefs don't match?

What do you do when everyone thinks you are the genius of the class but you don't. What do you do when everyone thinks you're super productive and you don't waste a minute of your life but your digital well-being app says different. What do you do when everybody thinks you are funny/wise but you'll be like "I shouldn't have said that. 🤦‍♂️" to every word that comes out of your mouth.

I could go forever like this, but basically, everybody else thinks you have figured everything out in your life but only you know you feel like shit inside.

But, this is not the worst part. No. No. The worst part is that you actually start to believe them. If everybody says I am smart, funny, and productive, I might actually be smart, funny, and productive.

You will act like all of those things people say about you. You will be super productive. You will study more and get good grades. You will tell more jokes and be more friendly. (this will also strengthen others' perception of you). But not for long. You will wake up on the other side a couple of days later. Your inner insecurities will kick in and you will start questioning everything - Who am I to say this or do that. When others say good things about you you are very skeptical - are they making fun of me.

So, you become kind of bipolar. You will be at your best for 3 days and at your worst for the next three. The weird part is that nobody notices when you are in the dark. Finally, when you come out of the dark they will notice - they will think you have always been there.

This is the story of my life. Everyone thinks I'm awesome (Except Me). Maybe the title wasn't so bad after all.

#internal_struggle #perception_vs_reality

Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the face. — Mike Tyson

Things will not always go as planned. Sometimes life will through you unexpected things (like power outage for the most of the day and you are out of battery power). That being said, you will be surprised to know how much control you have in your life.

2.1
ደንቦች፣ ሃይማኖቶች ወይም ባሕሎች የሌሉበትን ሃሳባዊ ዓለም መመርመር

ስለ ሃይማኖት ጉዳዮች እየተወያየን ሳለ ከጓደኞቼ አንዱ እንዲህ ሲል ጠየቀኝ። "ለምን ወንጀል/ኃጢያት ኖረ? ለምን የፈለግሁትን አላደርግም? ለምሳሌ ለምን አንድ ሰው አልገድልምና... well nothing happens, I am not a sinner or a criminal?"።

የሚቀጥለው ጽሁፍ እነዚህ ጥያቄዎች ባለቺኝ (እጅግ በጣም) ትንሽ እውቀት ለመመለስ የሞከርኩበት ነው።
→ ሙሉውን ያንብቡ

#religions #rules #imagination

1
Why I stopped following political events.
→ ሙሉውን ያንብቡ

#politics #news