It didn’t take too long for Hanad to find a vacant seat. He found a vacant seat at a table at which a man was sitting alone.
Hanad got close to the man, leaned on
him and said politely, “Is somebody sitting
in this seat?”
“No Sir,” replied the man.
“‘Do you mind if I sit in?”
“No. You can sit in.”
“Thank you.”
The man was having a number of local magazines, which he was reading one
after another for a few seconds and then
returning it to the table and picking up another one to read, shaking his head sideways when returning, as if all the topics on the papers were neither evocative nor emotive.
The man did read-return turns several times, not to make Hanad notice or focus on his actions, but to let a conversation flow and make it sound social and even sensatiomal ina manner that relates to human society and its configuration as
a community.
As reading is to the mind what walk is to
the human body, which literally means
that reading is what stimulates the mind, improves the scope of understanding
and enriches the ability of thinking and
perceiving better, Hanad, who was
observing the manner in which the man
was reading the newspapers, thought
that the man was searching for topics
more realistic than those he had
read from one magazine to another.
Thinking from that scientific perspective, Hanad said, “Gentleman, what was your name?”
“Hinbir”
“And my name is Hanad.”
“Glad to meet you,” said Hinbir.
“Nice to meet and know you.”
“Mr. Hinbir, are you a businessman?”
“No, Sir.”
“Politician or public figure?”
“No, Hanad. I am jack of all trades.”
“Excuse me, Mr. Hinbir. Do you mean to
say you do everything?”
“No, Hanad. I mean I am a facilitator.”
“You mean you get things cleared
from government offices on behalf of
the citizenry?”
“Yes. The urgent and important ones.”
“Mr. Hinbir, how can you clear things from government offices that others couldn’t
get them cleared. Do you do this work
by a magic wand?”
“Mr. Hanad, if you are not talented, you
cann’t tackle a task.”
“Are you telling me that talent is enough to get things cleared from all government offices and that no tricks are played, Mr. Hinbir?”
“Life is not what one once lived. It is what
one experiences now on a daily basis and how one reacts to what he or she meets when they make plans in their lives. So life
is a deal. If you don’t deal with it, it will deal with you. This is how things use to work. A deal is what this age requires,” said Hinbir.
“If the deal brings a disaster or damage to
the common good, would you continue to
do it?,” asked Hanad.
“This is slave mentality and I am not down with it. Are you not an intellectual, who changes as time changes, who adapts and adjusts himself to climate change?,” Hinbir replied.
“Accepting life as it comes to us and never trying to shape it as we want it to be; living
as our ancestors used to live; doing things
in the same way over and over again; failing to face challenges in more ways than one etc, such habits are not what
this age requires. I totally agree all that with you, Mr. Hinbir. But you must also recognize that the skills that this age requires include: thinking of what the sense of tomorrow would look like;
putting common interest before personal interest, keeping our culture resilient and reformable all the time, planning ahead before disasters do arise and leading our lives with integrity and so on and so forth,” Hanad argued.
Hinbir stared indignantly at Hanad. He doubted whether Hanad was a relic of
another age. Hinbir studied carefully
how Hanad argued and came to realise
that the validity of Hanad’s argument has
a function of logical consistency, which,
if not stopped in where it was at that moment, would bring down all deals and humpty-dumpty business in the land.
That was when Hinbir racked his brain to challenge intentionally Hanad’s argument.
Hinbir is neither apolitical nor asocial
person. He is too vigilant to follow up
all events and information, put them
together, and see if they make sense
to him. He habitually pays special consideration to how social, economic
and political situations change, to know where his bread is buttered in advance,
and identify and acknowledge the
inherent and imported strengths in all
his likes and in others as well.
“Mr. Hanad, tell me, where did you see
those people, who are committed to
build their country before they build
their personal interests? Where did
you see those people whose original
aim in seeking public posts is to serve
their nation? Where did you see those people who plan and prepare ahead
before disasters happen? Where did
you meet the minister who knows well
that his or her job is not to respond to opposition parties when they critisize
the weakenesses of the incumbent administration, but their responsibility
is to demonstrate for the public what
they have done for their country?
Where did you see the politician or
public figure who is cause-oriented
and not clan-oriented and cash-oriented?
Didn’t you see that most people are judgmental without understanding,
when it comes to how people view
what is happeming around the public?
I have the feeling that you have a dream, Mr. Hanad, a dream, I believe, that will
not come true.
Hinbir really made a mark in how he
saw Somaliland people as they were at that time. What he talked and talked and
told to Hanad just reflected the true
picture of Somaliland’s social and
political order system: Who really Somaliland people are as a nation;
how they use to behave; how they interact;
what they care about and what they don’t; what makes sense to them and what not; how unfaithful that those in power are to
their people; and how so stupid and problematic it is that there is no sense
in which people can even image what
their future will look like.
Hanad anaylsed all that Hinbir had stated as objectively as possible, without the biases of hindsight. He knew all those defects and defficiencies that exist in Somaliland’s social and political culture and more importantly the fact that nobody was doing anything about them.
Despite this, Hanad couldn’t shake what Hinbir said. Instead he looked at Hinbir’s argument in another way. Hanad saw
Hinbir and his likes as those people who
grew up in where and when corruption practice was and still is the only guideline
for all government officials and thus the public accepted corruption practices as government rules and regulations that all people must follow.
Moreover, Hanad took the decision that Hinbir and his likes were those who
Hanad was committed to liberate from Somaliland, because most of the young people who grew up in the reign of mujahids don’t realise and recognize that corruption practice is a taboo that all people, young and old alike, cannot touch.
Among the worst habits Hanad’s observations unfolded include the
stupidity to resist against any
improvement that the people want
to see in the government system by
all those who are in government offices and those others want to gain
through deception what they couldn’t
gain honestly.
Remarkably, the behavior that those
who grew up in an era of unprecedented corruption practices share in common is
the denial of the skill and expertise that
every public work requires. It is a known
fact that those who occupy government offices are totally vigilant against maladministration that slows Somaliland progress.
Noteably, Hanad drew from what Hinbir
said is that facilitation manifests itself in everything dishonest people do, say and think. The only way to reverse this is to
make an active, lifetime commitment to reprogram public’s mind to move beyond
the space dishonest politicians and government officials and their collaborators occupy within the
“facilitation mentality” narrative –
nothing can be done without a deal.
“The impact of a facilitation on the minds
of dishonest people can’t be ignored and underestimated as well,” Hanad whispered
in his ears.
Forming that analysation out of Hinbir’s mindset, Hanad decided to disuade Hinbir from his wrong assumptions, his belief to get things done with no integrity, with no intellect and with no risk, but with little skill, little effort and little time.
First, Hanad tried to inspire Hinbir spiritually, begining his inspirational persuation from the aspects of the islamic religion.
“Two men are sinless and fautless in this world,” said Hanad.
“Are you talking about angles or animals? I believe that humans are not infallible of mistakes, leave alone sins and anything of this sort,” claimed Hinbir confidently.
“I wish I were one of them,” Hanad returned.
“Tell me who are those two men that God has blessed them,” inquired Hinbir.
“The one who died young and the one who
is not yet born. These are the two persons that God has blessed them. This world is terribly disappointing.”
“Do you have expectations that didn’t go as you planned, Mr. Hanad?”
“My mind is something like a icon from an
old world, wandering between two worlds, ‘Mr. Hinbir,” returned Hanad.
“Ha…ha. Might I not guess that you are a man from another world? It always happens that diasporas pretend to be people that they are not when they come back to their motherland.”
“I am not a member of Somaliland diaspora, Mr. Hinbir.”
“If you have never been out of Somaliland, what are those two worlds you are wandering between them?”
“‘A world that is blind and a powerless world yet to be born,” replied Hanad.
“Wandering between a blind world and a powerless world that is not yet born?,” stressed Hinbir.
“Yes, I am wandering between a blind world and powerless one yet to be born.”
“Give up. This is the only option open for you,” returned Hinbir.
“Giving up is not a gentleman’s choice when difficulties do arise.”
“‘Hanad, forget the world that doesn’t exist. Tell me, what are you goning to do with this world that you say it is blind – the world that blows your mind, doesn’t help you see things from a new perspective, but continues to shape things as you see them today.”
“Numerous inventions truely give the sense that there is always magic in the world around us if we only know how to look for.”
“‘Sorry, Hanad, I don’t understand.”
“‘As they say, there is no mountain we cannot move. That is, there is nothing we cannot do. Blindness can be treated with simple surgery. For example, weak eyesight can be sharpened through medical devices, or be fixed with glasses; human perception can be enhanced through education and skills. We can let our world see us when we recognize that we are blind to our mistakes, and really find out where we are weak,” Hanad emphasized.
“How would you deal with the world that is not yet born, Mr. Hanad?”
“When we admit our mistakes and know how to make them right, the legacy we leave behind is the ‘will’ the world that is not yet born would ultimately inherit.”
Hinbir stood up all of a sudden, collected his newspapers from the table and walked away, without even saying good bye to Hanad, who, before Hinbir took one step afar, said, “see you next time, Mr. Hinbir.
In the country of “I have been a mujahid’, the art of discussion is not the language
of understanding!
To be continued
By : Jamafalaag
Somaliland, Hargeisa.
jamafalaag@gmail.com
As per usual the opinions expressed in this articale are those of the author and do not reflect the opinions of qarannews.com
