It can be said that there are certain things you cannot have too much of. I believe common sense is one of those. If that is the case, then I must make an exception if only to make a point. According to the October 9, 2000, edition of the Liberian newspaper The News, Liberian ‘‘Senator [Thomas] Nimely, speaking on the Catholic-owned Radio Veritas last week, called on [U.S.] Ambassador [to Liberia Bismarck] Myrick to pack his bags and leave the country for allegedly doing little or nothing to help Liberia’s national recovery drives. The American embassy, in response, expressed disappointment with Senator Nimely’s remarks. The Senator also called the U.S. Embassy’s support for the ordinary Liberians ‘peanuts.’ ’’

So, Senator Nimely angrily and derisively dismissed the ambassador of the United States, a nation that is on the verge of creating a colony in space. But for once Liberia has a hero – a man with the courage to stand up to the biggest military, industrial, and economic giant this world has ever known. This looks like a proud moment for all Liberians – except! Too many Liberians have too much common sense.

Sure, the United States has room for comedy generally, although the current Liberian brands are made of fatal errors. America’s daily doses of scripted fun are confined to a separate section of the newspaper generally referred to as ‘‘funnies.’’ What Liberia is doing to the United States certainly looks funny. Only after the laughter subsides that stupidity become obvious. But Senator Thomas Nimely is not as stupid as he may appear. He knows that his stunt would cost him his life if he tried it on someone else. Let’s say President Charles Taylor. But since ‘‘funnies’’ are scripted, no one loses his life unless the creator of the skit wills it.

Then again, Charles Schultz would not let Charlie Brown, for once, kick the ball held in place by Lucy. Charlie Brown has been trying for 50 years. Asked in his last TV interview before he died early this year when Charlie Brown might finally hit the ball, Schultz, the creator of the ‘‘Peanuts’’ cartoon series, replied, ‘‘It’s not my fault’’ that Charlie Brown keeps missing the ball. Regarding the Loony Toons in Monrovia, it means that the United States will not soon send the Philadelphia police’s afternoon shift to kick Liberia in the butt on the account of one man’s stupidity.

This, however, does not mean that we are not flirting with one disaster after another. But I think the United States is not yet willing to bill all of Liberia for the recklessness of a few. President Charles Taylor opened fire on the U.S. embassy in Monrovia in September 1998, killed a Liberian on the U.S. facility and wounded some American servicemen. As rebel leader, Taylor infiltrated the United States Department of State with the aim of embarrassing the superpower – which he did – by having its classified documents splattered on the front page of the monthly West Africa magazine one issue after another. So far, taunting the United States has been a relatively safe sport, but I think the U.S. still credits us (Liberian citizens) with enough common sense to do something before America will have to put an end to the foolishness.

For now, our behaviors are still funny, but that’s because Americans have a healthy sense of humor, and they apply it even in the quest for knowledge. I believe that the how-to book series under the ‘‘For Dummies’’ banner that helped to bring less confident individuals into the field of computer was started by an American. In that light, we Liberians with some common sense should come up with a study guide along the lines of ‘‘Diplomacy for Dummies’’ before it is too late.

There is a Bush Grebo maxim that says ‘‘All wars are started by fools, but each is won on right.’’ We have to find a way to rein in our local fools even while we find a way to get rid of President Charles Taylor who recruited them.

Not having met Senator Thomas Nimely before, and knowing nothing about his global experience, I can nevertheless make the usual excuse that he is probably inexperienced. But I hate to link any experience to formal education because I don’t think the two can always be connected logically and fairly. Common sense and wisdom either together or separately can address most deficiencies that formal knowledge cannot mask.

Here is an example. It is understandable that just a year past the 1997 elections that brought President Charles Taylor to power, the United States could not have predicted with any confidence (though they could have avoided the exercise by asking me) that Taylor would prove to be the monster he is. The U.S. nevertheless was cautious – something that is highly recommended for any emerging situation. Yet it seemed that Mr. Winston Tubman – Liberia’s UN ambassador in previous governments – was every bit as confident about Taylor as the United States was cautious. So confident, in fact, Mr. Tubman scolded the United States in a Washington Post article for refusing to ‘‘embrace’’ the administration of President Charles Taylor.

‘‘Embrace’’? You would have thought that the ten-foot pole had not yet been invented. That’s the device the United States – or any prudent political entity – would have poked Taylor with before determining the merits of further contacts. Now, it would be a stretch of the truth to suggest that Mr. Tubman lacks both formal knowledge and experience. Mr. Tubman has a post-graduate degree from England’s Cambridge University and he served as Liberia’s Minister of Justice before his diplomatic tour took him to New York as Liberia’s ambassador to the United Nations. So, if Mr. Tubman does not suffer from an acute case of partisanship then perhaps he has not enough common sense to draw upon.

Like Ambassador Tubman, Senator Nimely wants the United States to help Liberia. The Senator, perhaps without the benefit of both Western education and experience, falls back on the prevailing illogic in Liberia. Therefore his speech can be said to be dictated by the mantra ‘‘I kill my ma, I kill pa, you care for me.’’ I called Tubman ‘‘A Proud Mendicant’’ in an article by that title in 1998 for saying pretty much the same thing that Senator Nimely has said to and about the United States. Since I have already found a title for Mr. Tubman for his suggestion of what United States’ relationship with President Taylor ought to be, I am thinking about an appropriate way to refer to Senator Nimely for his latest offering. Maybe I should wait for a book titled ‘‘Diplomacy for Dummies’’ for some hints – Tarty Teh

Copyrighted © Tarty Teh 2000
Washington, D.C., October 13, 2000

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