A Fighting ChanceA Fighting ChanceMy dear friend, Sam Jackson: There is something sad about your gleeful predictions of more failures in the face of our very real national catastrophe. There is something attractive though about the way you sometimes say things. The attractiveness, however, is superficial; it’s only a façade, and you are a brilliant person for having erected such a front. But the same brilliance with which you conceived such construction should have allowed you a peek into the sounder minds around which see through your display.
Sam, the chances are getting better that it will happen without you, and better still, despite you. We will end President Charles Taylor’s tenure without being enslaved by democracy, and without blaming it (democracy, that is) for the adjustments that were made necessary.
Your fronting will draw attention, and there is no point in denying that you can hold the attention of your audience. But if your arguments made ample use of the sad truth of our recent history, they would withstand the winds sound scrutiny. But the conclusions of your arguments are often pre-drawn. For instance, you sided with the predicted winner in the Liberian civil war in which you are not on record as having taken part. You are only on record for having suffered it.
However, your prediction was based on Charles Taylor’s proven ability to kill. Since no one else quite shared Taylor’s determination to kill, it was likely he would get everything he wanted. That included victory in the war and, later on, the presidency of Liberia. And so you were right. You sided with the right side based on force, and without the risk of being involved. But you have now dropped the force as the base of your argument. You are now trying to rework the truth to support what was predicated on force.
Sam, there is a sad song that is now a fact of Liberian history. It goes like this: ‘‘You Kill My Ma, You Kill My Pa, I Vote for You.’’ It marks at least our temporary separation from sound thinking. We even lost the ability to recognize our victimhood. Logic completely deserted us. But, Sam, the title line of that song could have been taken out of your biography. You are one of countless Liberians who lost both parents in the civil war. I would have registered my sympathy if I were equipped to diagnose you as having suffered trauma beyond what most of us felt. I lost four brothers. If I start talking about them, I won’t know when to stop.
Beyond this point I would say that logic is not a prerequisite. Most of us are trauma victims. So it is a matter of degree of separation from sound thinking. You have become a clown in Charles Taylor’s parade. I know that you think you have constructively engaged President Taylor, but I don’t believe that you have the independence it would take in any engagement with any potential for some constructive yield. That means that you are simply engaged – as in an arranged marriage in which the bride does not have a say.
Sam, you must find the will to fight. Don’t ask for my forgiveness; ask for your parents’. Don’t remain bought. We may never know victory, but let’s give our children a fighting chance. This means we must remove the obvious obstacle before they arrive. Success is not guaranteed, but failure should not be our only option. – Tarty Teh [Washington, D.C., March 28, 2000]
Copyrighted © Tarty Teh 2000
