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The good thing about Eritrean socio-cultural structure is that the communities/societies and individuals are so much interrelated and mutually reinforcing each other.
Individuals are too much integrated to their society that the society can not sustain with out the participation of its building blocks (individuals) and they in turn, can not live out side the societal context. During the colonial era, it was the individuals, who by virtue of being members of a community, dedicated themselves to shoulder all the hardships and miseries for the betterment of their societies. That is to say, for any one born and grown up in a community such as ours, any act of aggression is intolerable, meant to suppress the group’s freedom. In deed, Thompson was right when he wrote: collective tendencies have an existence of their own; they are forces as real as cosmic forces, though of another sort, likewise, affect the individual from without.
In our case for instance, individuals have a much close-knit ties with their families, communities and societies that, they even live for these entities, sacrificing their individual desires as human beings. We should not, however, confuse these ties as unpleasant they may sound, with those of unhealthy family and clan loyalties as is the case with several countries. No, it is not like that.
It is rather a chain of integration and cohesion, deeply entrenched in the hearts and minds of Eritreans with out any blood, region and ethnic considerations. Every one in Eritrea lives and dedicates his precious life to shield his national interests with out discrimination. And that is a blessing for Eritrea; because living in today’s globalized world with most of the societies exposed to alien individualistic life styles, it is very difficult to find people who denounce their individual interests and are willing to sacrifice themselves lest the collective good of their people is jeopardized. I, some times come to believe that Eritreans were in Karl Jaspers’ mind, while writing: there exists among men, because they are men, a solidarity through which each shares responsibility for every injustice and every wrong committed in the world, and especially for crimes that are committed in his presence or of which he can not be ignorant.
Yes, there exists an intrinsic responsibility of every one of us to shoulder the burden of our nation, for with out it; we are deemed to be with out a defined identity. And that is the reason why our forefathers, fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers have shed their blood to protect their people from successive external aggressions. For an Eritrean, being a volunteer to give his life for the good of his nation is not only a product of political awareness; it is also a bitter sweet sacrifice imprinted in his bone marrows during childhood.
Is our martyr (Sema’e), some body who makes sacrifice or suffers greatly in order to advance a cause or principle then dead? No! Dead are those who believe that Sema’e is dead for he can not do what a moving person can do. But, I say, Sema’e is a physically fallen hero, yet living in sensible standards. Some one who lost his life to give his people a chance to breathe free air, some one who sacrificed his being to shield his people from a piercing arrow of exploitation, he that who lost his life to produce warmth to his people when it is a teeth-catching cold and he that who erects a shade as gentle as a mother’s cuddle is not, by any logic, said to be dead, but a Martyr, some one who lost his life for a noble cause like our Sema’e. Sema’e is a living phenomenon for it is he up on whom we depend to fight our nightmarish dreams and ghostly day pseudo-dragons. Finally Sema’e is said to be dead if we happen to forget the cause he has sacrificed his life for. He is said to be dead if we can not keep his willing, a willing that expects our generation to maintain the territorial integrity and sovereignty of his gift to his people, Eritrea. Therefore, let’s go beyond a mere statue erection, for his statue is in our hearts and let’s try to make our contributions no matter how little we may feel; because the ants drag a cereal, hundredths of times their weight just by combining their efforts.
Glory to Our Martyrs!
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