Gone are the days of life in the beauty of darkness and the cruelty of solitude.During those days, I imagined her, pensive, still and determined to live; I imagined her behind rusty prison rails thinking about the millions of Ethiopians gazing at stars and praying to the transcendent; I imagined her drinking water and breathing air and thanking the loving God for keeping her alive; I imagined her extending her contagious smile to the prison guards who kept their eyes on her; I imagined her taking notes in her heart for a future masterpiece that she will present to the Ethiopian people.
I cannot stop imagining her now, now that she is in the sunlight of freedom wrapped by the adoring hands of the Ethiopian public, most particularly the members of her generation.
Birukan, the queen of justice, as I called her, when she was in prison, is now the queen of silent justice outside of prison.
I now imagine her in the company of her loving mother and joyous daughter drinking from the fountain of freedom; I imagine her waking to the sound of trees, the music of birds and the voices of the millions of Ethiopians who secretly adore her; I imagine millions of Ethiopian women admiring her defiance and her intelligence; I imagine all those parents who will one day name their children after Birtukan, the eloquent tribune of deliberative democracy.
When the dawn of genuine freedom reins in Ethiopia, Birtukan will use her spirituality, always mediated through that embracing smile, which takes in the hearts of the Ethiopian public, yearning for freedom, to guide the Ethiopian nation through the sheer force of loving-kindness. This spirituality will work in concert with her fine legal mind, and be articulated via communicative rationality and emerge as the leader of a people’s party, which I would like to call, Ethiopianity.
How honored I would be if the Transcendent would preserve me to work for Birtukan Mideska, as the new voice of Ethiopianity and the leader of the people’s party, Ethiopianity.
Teodros Kiros
Professor of Philosophy and English (Liberal Arts)
Berklee College of Music
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