#Ethiopian by choice #Jawers are still confused

The Jawars still think their Ethiopian citizenship is imposed. They are still confused in understanding racial identity and citizenship.

Let's agree King Minilik included various regions and races by force in the boundary we have today, which we call Ethiopia. In every part of the world boundaries are not either god-made or made of choice; they were formed by wars and subsequent agreements like it was in Ethiopia.

Despite this, the large majority don't consider their citizenship is imposed. What most logical politicians and responsible citizens do is to work to form a functional democracy and governance that serve the people leaving the past to rest with proper, mature discussion.

Had old Ethiopian leadership failed to establish good governance, which of course it did fail, the point then and today is to fix the failure in leadership. The problem was not and is not the unity we have accomplished; the problem is with the way we perceive the people of this country and on how we lead them.

I do think nobody had the chance to choose its citizenship. What was possible and is still possible at best is to make the unity work best for the people, us.

Imposed or chosen isn't the point. If we make this an issue, then, it isn't a big deal; we can simply choose the Ethiopian citizen we are and work to sort out the failures we have not so far resolved despite regime changes.

Racial identity isn't unique to anyone of us. We all have races we are born from. Yet we all had no choice to get born from any particular race. It just happens in nature.

What we can choose is rather the citizenship we have even if it were imposed by power like some claimed. If anyone disregards my being Amhara, the problem isn't with the Ethiopian I am or with the boundary King Minilik managed to establish.

The problem simply belongs to the immature attitudes of those who disregard other races. This simply speaks of the homework we have in shaping attitudes that fit the diversity this nation is. Nothing more, nothing less.

I am puzzled by those who now and then tell us we have this identity and that identity. We all have racial identity. Yet we can still share a lot as human beings, as citizens of this country.

That means we have same need to eat (an economy to build), we are animals of choice (we need a political landscape that accommodate diverse views and people), we are communal at the same time (we build one society while we enjoy the diversity we are).

I don't still understand why the Jawers still confuse their identity with their Ethiopian citizenship. You had no chance to choose to be born as Oromo and I had no chance to choose to be Amhara, yet now you and I have the chance to accept our citizenship and build together the nation we belong to.

Unload your mind of all the cramp staff it is filled with and learn to choose to be Ethiopian.

Don't pretend as if Minilik had and has the power to choose it for you, it is you and I who are living now with a choice in our hands to make Ethiopia any better than the periods you are used to hate so much.

Being Ethiopian wasn’t and isn’t the issue, the issue is to be able to establish a functioning democracy and governance that can sustain any difficulties.