Stimulating Thinking: Mind Connection: The Minutes Of Silence

Stimulating Thinking: Mind Connection: The Minutes Of Silence

By Aron Hidru

There are people who try to picture in their mind’s eye a person whom they appreciate a lot (for example someone whom they consider a respected model) in times of hardship, that is, in problem solving. In such a case, they try to imagine what the person may do in such a similar situation. This may be considered an imagined consultation. In this case, we may ask ourselves, “What would he or she do if he or she were in my place? How patiently would he or she deal with the problem at hand?” People with this kind of a habit may learn a lot from this kind of imagination. This may help them guide their decisions properly as a result of the imagined consultation.

In Eritrea, we often spend one minute of silence, for example, while commencing or closing a meeting as part of honouring our martyrs. Within the minute we talk not to each other but each of us silently talks to himself or to herself. In such minutes of memory, that is, in the minutes of self-talks, what often does come to your mind? What comes to our mind during the minutes we are silent, for example, while commencing or closing a meeting? Do we do it as a matter of procedural habit that has to be done regularly or we get heartily and emotionally connected with our martyrs and to what they have entrusted us with? Do we really repent? Do we really examine the degree of our sinlessness or sinfulness? Do we tend to examine our deeds in our mind’s eye taking into account the things we are entrusted to do in return to what they have done for us? Or we simply do it as a result of a habit to do so?

Last year I heard in a radio interview that there is a woman who spends June 20, Martyr’s Day, with one mother of a martyr with the intention of easing her loneliness and comforting the mother. In such a case, the mother is more likely to feel as if her martyred son is alive. It really is pleasant to hear such good deeds and you really appreciate those people who know how to really deal with the things they are entrusted with. Such people have to be real men of their words and real men of deeds. During the minutes of silence in which we are supposed to get heartily connected with our martyrs and the things we are entrusted with, these people are likely to make a promise with the self to further deepen these good deeds. And possibly some of us may tend to spend the minutes of silence just because it has become a habitual practice. The problem is sometimes things become habits easily and the real enthusiasm associated with them gets eroded over time.

In a rental house I used to live before some years, there was an aged woman (the owner) who preached me a lot about things such as going to church and other things related to what she thinks has to be done by her fellow Christians like me. She repeatedly says to me, “I doubt whether you are really a fellow Christian or not?” But if you closely observe the things she does, and the way she treats us as tenants, she is not humane when her deeds are measured at least by the standards of the doctrines of the Christian life that are communicated through the holy Bible. She goes to church regularly, yet she does not lead herself according to the basic requirements of a Christian life. For this reason we can say that since she is not a committed Christian, going to the church is a habit for her. This is because what she does is meaningless unless accompanied by good deeds. While her religion reminds her to love others as she loves herself, she did not treat us humanly and did not show us love at all. If a guest came to our house, she became considerably unhappy and she used to let us know how disappointed she is. Hypocrisy!

It would be more helpful to consider the other side of martyrdom so as to practically consider the things we are entrusted with. While people were joining the struggle for independence, not only were they subordinating their private needs or making sacrifices to promote the collective cause at the expense of their own concerns but those who are this way or that way connected to them also make sacrifices. What was said during a book inaugural ceremony, a year or so ago, about the other side of sacrifices in Eritrea made me ponder a lot. As I could see from his speech, the author of the book was a freedom fighter who was assigned to a unit (during the armed struggle) taking care of the children whose parents were either in the trenches or martyred in the struggle for independence. He compares the situation of the children who were under his custody with the children who are raised in a normal social environment. His emphasis was that they lacked parental treatment (such as lack of fatherly and motherly love). The point is that just like what their parents did they also paid considerable sacrifices as a consequence of the struggle to liberate the country.

A martyr is a son or a daughter to someone, a brother or a sister to others, a friend to some others and so on. Hence, while the degrees may vary, all such people sacrificed something with the martyrdom of each martyr. If we consider the favours people get from their closely related person and if we think at least in terms of the things that are in the circle of private concerns of an individual, a martyr is a complement in the lives of many people who are related to him or her differently.

Therefore, real connection with our martyrs and valuing martyrdom should mean shouldering the burdens of those people who are affected by martyrdom our individual martyrs. What those Eritreans residing in the Diaspora are doing in an effort to shoulder the burdens of the families of martyrs is one good example of valuing martyrdom.

When we think in terms of the communal responsibilities our martyrs shouldered, this can remind us how communally responsible we should be. Their concerns were the concerns of the society and not the concerns of their particular families. In connection to this, what a fellow workmate used to say about shouldering collective responsibilities while we were in the military makes me think deeply. Two of his uncles are martyrs. He argues that his uncles are not particularly uncles for him, but they are uncles for all Eritreans. What he meant is that they are communal uncles. The only difference is, he believes, that he knows them through their photos and he has been told a lot about them. In terms of contribution, they did nothing particular for him as they were totally communal people. In this case, we may think of many communal fathers, communal mothers, communal sisters, communal brothers etc. My friend’s line of reasoning makes me deeply think that how much communal or corporate individuals and how much private individuals we can be in post-independence Eritrea.

Bearing what has been said above in mind, while it would not be practically possible to be that egalitarian and communal, in Eritrea we cannot afford even too minor forms of nepotism. Hence, we should be sensible enough to constitute just systems and institutions. The problem is if nepotism prevails, as is the case in many poor African countries, it considerably erodes public confidence in state institutions. In this case, popular commitment to achieve development goals and readiness to make sacrifices would be affected adversely.

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