Patronized Attitude In Sports World

 Patronized Attitude In Sports World

An elderly man with a priestly attire happened to meet me at a second-hand book store. As he saw me reading a dictionary of the Bible, he asked me what my religion is. I told him that I am a member of Christian Orthodox, the ancient Monophysite faith in that part of Africa. He asked me what my name is, and I told him in full “Hailemichael” which means the power of Saint Michael, a patron saint of our family circle. Furthermore, just to elucidate this sacred name I said, “In my language Haile means power, but Michael is Hebraic name which means who is like God.”  In this response, he raised his eye brows, and said in a deep voice, “Are you from South Africa? South Africans speak good English.”

What an ad hominem! That is against a person, not at issue at hand.

Then he left all of a sudden.

Take a look at his attitude which was in direct conflict with my nominal interpretation implying one of several Godly invocations in the pious congregation of ancient Israelites. I have encountered similar incidences in the Bible Belt of the South where some think as if Christianity introduced to Africa by missionaries. Most of them are not aware that we, as ancient people possessing an intimate knowledge of the Holy Writ including the invented Egyptian wheel along the River Nile that revolutionized the modern automation and cycling as well.

By the same token, the Tour-de-France championship as witnessed by Daniel is attributed to Italian colonial experience by some Western analysts signifying a shallow understanding of Eritrean psyche. This has to do, of course, with my earlier note on “National Character” of Eritreans, a driving force in all spheres of life.

To begin with, Eritreans by nature are curious and quick learners too. Historians and ethnographers like Warner Munzinger (1860), and Ruflio Perini (1905) had long recognized this in their monumental opus such “Ostafrikanische Studien - East African Studies”and “Aqua del Mereb- Mereb Milash” respectively. To take an example, during colonial times someone asked to his friend how he learned carpentry.  His friend said, “You see I was working with an Italian man who hired me to pass out tools, or lift heavy woods (murale). But he neither taught, nor allowed me to do the carpenter job. But slyly, I was observing him how he was making different furniture. That is how I learned his trade -suo miestere- ምስጢሩ።

We have come to know now, that Western journalists tend to rationalize in an attempt to discredit or minimize the success story of ambitious Africans like Daniel who dare to cross the forbidden line. But as Abraham Maslow, one of the leading scholars in humanistic domain put it, there is undeniably a human potential by way of peak experience whenever and wherever an opportunity becomes available. With this in mind, the reactionary forces that keep a human race in the dark abyss of ineptitude and ignorance are still intact.

For knowledge is power indeed! Period.

Haile Bokure

#Eritrea's team of cycling which participated in Tokyo Olympics 1964: Salembini was truly legendary (his fun) #TDF pic.twitter.com/KtHZACreZc

— Ambassador Estifanos (@AmbassadorEstif) July 13, 2015

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