One day last week, I had a discussion with a colleague about my generation. The point of the discussion was the gap between ambition and readiness to do what it takes to realise it. What stayed with me out of the discussion is the fact that generalisation is a slippery slope.
This colleague of mine hates generalisation. He prefers downsizing the cluster of samples used in deduction as much as possible. Of course, he rightly knows that human beings cannot live life without some sort of deduction. But he believes that the differentials are big enough to make every deduction reductionist, in one way or the other.
For me, patterns matter. And there is every way that human beings align to form groups. Even when it is about feelings, perspectives and aspirations, much is shared amongst individuals living in a given reality.
True, the wider the reality, the higher the risk of omission. But there is ample experience to be shared even at global level, hence we talk of globalization as an inclusive event.
On the very issue of ambition and taking the pain to get it realised, I am of the opinion that my generation fails to understand the matrix. And those who understand the matrix seem to opt for shortcuts.
My generation’s ambition is visible. Talking to any Ethiopian youth, be it rural or urban, would show one that ambition to achieve positive outcomes is prevalent. The spirit of positive achievement is higher in my generation than any other the nation has seen. This partly relates to the changed reality of our fair nation. Where we seem to fail is in understanding what it takes to change this ambition into reality.
Life has its own rules. One of the key rules is that, there is no shortcut to be what one wants to be. If there is such a means, it is often illegitimate or unlawful. In the context of the larger society, then, the shortest way to be what one wants to be happens at the expense of other members of society.
Unfortunately, moral values have declined in this age. Smartness is measured by the knowledge of the shortcuts, regardless of their legal standing. In the words of my colleague, “what matters is what one has, not how one gets it.”
But imagine the end point of a society with members acting selfishly to get what they want. The race will certainly be one where everyone goes down to the bottom. The competition of shortcuts would favour only the few – largely those with power, guns or money – and the majority will lose. Even worse is when those with the privilege take the law in their own hands. Such a scenario will leave the majority to subservience.
It may be bleak, but this is the very future towards which we are heading. The popular trend among youth is to amass money without adding any value. It does not matter if the process marginalizes, disowns, excludes or disenchants others. Success is measured by the riches one commands. No one cares about the commons.
The tragedy of the commons is a popular economic concept in which the selfish individual rushes to exploit a common resource, with losses to the group as a whole. This seems to make no sense to my generation. A prevailing rule is to seize as much leverage as possible, be it a resource or access to it.
It is disgusting to see an incessant rush for leverage. So it is discomfiting to be part of a generation where value denominations have lost meaning. Having something is desired for the sake of having it.
As my colleague did, most of the members of my generation explain this act by way of ‘individual right’. Therefore, an often asked question is: what is wrong with having a leverage for the sake of having it? Who is the judge that sets moral standards for these actions?
I see both of these questions analogous to the principle of the members of the group in the rush to the commons. This is driven by the thought, ‘even if I restrain, others will do it’. It clearly separates ‘us’ from ‘others’.
For a nation of 91 million, with 70pc of the population being young, kicking the can of our future down the road by way of selfish leveraging, is a dead end. It should have become clear to us that such a race takes us nowhere.
It is never let up but we can still change the path. We can start by avoiding the shortcuts and being ready to provide value. By way of preparing to pay the price of realising our ambitions, we can set a common standard, one step at a time.
We should not allow the tide of selfish leveraging to take us where it will. Instead, we ought to guide the way the tide flows. It is only when we do so that we can have a bright future of progression.
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