[Photo by KPA] - Blue Morpho Butterfly
The Butterfly Conservatory, Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens, Ontario
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I am part of an email group, and have attended meetings and social gatherings with this group in New York for a number of years. We discuss mostly socio-political issues, mostly centered around the United States, and with my contribution, Canada. A few times, I have presented the Ethiopian point of view, my idea being that the Christian country has more in common with the West than with the East.
Recently, I presented a proposition that we should support the PM of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, and his efforts to build this greater Ethiopia, in the tradition of the Ethiopian emperors, up to and including the late Emperor Haile Selassie.
One member of the group would have none of this, and my earnest efforts and my individual pursuits, from my art, to my Reclaiming Beauty (and Camera Lucida) 10+ years of documentations, stories, photographs, and views.
She accused me of "narcissism" - imagine, a supposedly honorable member of this group stooping to name-calling. She demanded to be removed from this list, and so she has been.
I wrote about Mullarkey here, about five years ago. She's a painter, and I said about her work:
Her style is stark and bleak...
I have been called worse than a narcissist! But this has only built a thick skin, and I continue with my endeavors and ideas. Who is one "email" acquaintance to dictate my ideas and my thoughts? I have never personally met this woman, who has only recently asked to be included in the group. Late to come, first to go! Good riddance.
Those intuitive and intelligent should realize that what I say makes sense. The world is now constructed in "global" terms. A small country in the north of Africa could be the butterfly wing that starts the wave of crashes around the world.
About 70 years ago, a similar event occurred, where Italian Fascists decided that they would complete their earlier entry into Ethiopia, which was met in defeat under the now celebrated Adwa Victory, and take that land as part of their late-comers colonial swoop.
They failed again, but in a different way. Ethiopia was eventually liberated, with men from all over the country taking arms to fight this enemy. But, Haile Selassie's appeal to the impotent League of Nations (precursor to the United Nations) was ignored, and the world sided with war, with devastating effects of the Second World War.
Sometimes faith in your message is what you need, or to be more precise, what you are obligated to have. Other messengers have come up short, wrong, and even pernicious. I have a long history, both at Reclaiming Beauty, and at Camera Lucida, of siding with Truth.
Shame.
