Not everyone will see things my way, but when some do, cherish those people instead of fighting empty battles. 

by Teddy Fikre  written: Thursday, February 16th, 2012

Let me reveal a few things about me to you; let me paint a perfect picture for those who misunderstand me.  You see, there are two sides to me:  1) the shining star that shines light on my people based on the theory of Hebret 2) the dark star that emits rays of odium on those who dare spit hatred my way.  This seeming contradiction, a vacillation between love and odium, has served me well in terms of marketing and reaching a wide audience.  After all, there is a reason why TMZ has a wider reach than CNN.  However, the vacillation has also injured my soul and in the process served to lessen my credibility in the Ethiopian and Eritrean community. 

Here is the thing. To be honest, off the break, I am a kind person.  Yeah I know I can come across as a bit arrogant, but when it comes down to it, I give everyone a chance until they give me a reason to doubt them.  I believe in Hebret deeply, shit when I die, my grave will probably read “Here lays Hebret RIP”.  That is how deeply I hold that saying in my heart, I believe in it so much that irrespective of how many times I keep getting hit in the head by Habesha folk who refuse to believe in it and would rather be selfish with the blessings bestowed to them by God, I keep getting up and preaching the Gospel of Hebret.  I have no choice—maybe I am caught up in some cognitive dissonance—but I truly believe that Hebret is the key to the enrichment of Ethiopia and the liberation of Africa. 

But too often, I would approach some Habesha guy or girl and proffer to work together and offer each other Hebret.  Too often, I have been met with “no thanks I don’t need help” or “we are good by ourselves”.  Maybe these are perfectly valid statements, maybe they are right, they don’t need me to be successful.  But to these nay-sayers to Hebret let me proffer this DOPE point:

Hebret = Economy of Scale

Let’s say you decide to have a party for Enkutatash.  Me being a non-promoter and more of a writer, I approach you with a DOPE idea.  Let’s have a Chebo party and combine our parties and have one FLY party representing all Ethiopians and Eritreans.  You have a vast network of thousands, but so do I.  You are a known promoter with DOPE parties on a regular basis, I am a flamed out promoter who tried to promote parties and gave up on that dream a long time ago.  Thus I turn to you because you are meto gena DOPE with it, you send out flyers and Ethiopians show up by the hundreds.  But because of www.browncondor.com, when I say Tadias, the Habesha world says back collectively “Selam”.  Thus we have a perfect partnership, you have the infrastructure, but I have the mechanism to spread the word about the Chebo party from Alexandria to Addis and back.  

So I propose we have a joint party, you respond with “well what can you do that I can’t do” or “I already have DC on lock, why do I need you?”  I don’t take it to heart, I know you are hesitant for a reason, this promotion game is a doggie eat dog world and for all you know I could be using your juice to restart my dreams of being the DOPEST promoter in DC.  But I have none of that design, but here is where the Hebret aka Economy of Scale kicks in.  Lets say you have your spot and you can get 100 to come out.  Let’s say I go in with you on your party and I am able to get 50 to come to your party.  Now you just gained 50 people and all you are paying me is 50% on my 50 people.  Automatically, you just made an extra $250 (assuming you charge $10 a head).

But wait, there is more.  Now, with your 100 people, your joint was not that packed and there was not a line outside.  When my 50 show up, you now have a line of 20 waiting to get in and my other 30 has your party packed like 40 Mexicans in a Toyotoa.  People walk by and notice this happening joint, so my 20 people waiting to get in attract another 20 to come in.  Now you are up $350 profit.  Now on top of that, I decide to go in on the cost of security and staff, because that would have been my fixed cost had I decided to hold my Chibo party at another spot.  So now your $1,000 in fixed cost just got knocked down to $750.  So in all, because of my Hebret aka Economy of Scale you just made a profit of $850 and I too made a profit of $150.  You get the lion’s share, but I made my money too.  Now we have a regular party and we form a collaboration; on top of that, you don’t have to worry about me as a competitor because you just co-opted my people into your network and I promote OUR party on a weekly basis.  This is the essence of Hebret. 

But I have learned to not take the no’s too personally.  Maybe it is not selfishness, maybe it is their business model to not open up and work with others?  Who am I to be upset and tell others how to run their business? But still it doesn’t make sense to me eko::  Why have one just kitfo when if we can work together you can have some of my Dulet and I can have some of your kitfo?  Oh, and yeah, I have Tums too, so not only can I give you gursha of Dulet but I can give you Tums and prevent the overdose Injera heartburn that will come after—see Hebret prevents heartburns too.  However, I have learned to not bang my head into walls, if some would rather eat only kitfo with stale Injera, why sit there and insist on giving them a wider gursha.  I am sure that another soul like me will come around that believes in Hebret and wants to share her kitfo in exchange for my Dulet and Tums eko::

But indifference and no thanks are not enough to make me go bazerk. Nah, as much as I have encountered Ethiopians who are satisfied with just kitfo, I am not even close to exploding my dark star on these folk.  Nah, the ones that get me are the ones who I help, who I give my last dollar to, who I go out of my way for, who I give my last gursha of my Dulet and then they turn around and talk behind my back and it gets back to me.  I don’t know what percentage of the Habesha community is like this, but it seems in the DC area, it is higher than the percentage of Habesha cab drivers.  Really, what drives you to act like that, when I help you and you in return slap me in my face?  My old method, I used to get Mossad with it, I would see red and attack full force and turn to my most reliable weapon and document their sins and write the most vindicate missive and blast their souls to the universe and destroy them on Google.  I don’t attack first, but when attacked I always attacked last.

This is when Mike Endale came yesterday and saved me from going all Mossad on one particular girl in NY who dared to cross me after I helped her out for years upon years by spitting on me behind my back on twitter.  See, in this social universe, the words that you say about someone always finds itself to the person you aim it at and then finds itself back to the source.  And when I found out the source and her sorcery, I was about to boil a witches brew and spill it on her forehead.  But Mike came right on time; maybe it was God that sent him.  He saved her—and in the process saved me—from documenting the most vindictive missive I have ever written that would have destroyed her social existence on Facebook and Twitter.  Instead, he talked to me for four hours and taught me the lesson of forgiveness.  In the process he taught me that I had to be careful what I wrote about someone, because the same words that I use to destroy my supposed enemy could one day destroy me and Brown Condor.   Thus I prayed and slept on it and woke up this morning with a new demeanor.

Now this is where I get to the point of the story.  I have known Mike for 4 years, what he did in fact did not surprise me and I have written about him multiple times before.  What really motivated this article was this good wendem named Neb from Neb Foto.  Mind you, I barely know this guy, I don’t even know his last name.  But I had the pleasure of interviewing him on BC Radio.  Anyway, one day he noticed my interaction with a non-Hebret believing soul on Facebook and hit me in the inbox and told me to call him back.  From that moment on, Neb has been in my corner meto gena and offered to do all he can to help and in return he knows that I will do everything in my energy to ensure that Neb Foto will take a pictures of the rings of Saturn as I fly him there with my Brown Condor rocket—oh and he will also be the official photographer of the Teddy Fikre wedding (right get a fiancée first negro) lol (yes I can say lol in an article, is there a rule against that in Webster? lol (I just needed a laugh that was all)

You see, in the end, I realize that I can go on seeking attention from those who don’t give a shit about Hebret, or I can open up my cornea and see that there are meto gena more Hebret believers than there are Habesha taxi drivers (before you think that I have a thing against Habesha taxi drivers, my father Fikre was a cab driver for 25 years RIP).  Anyway, the point is that it is my job to interconnect and discover folk like Mike Endale and Neb Foto who believe in Hebret instead of bitching and complaining about some souls who are greedy with their kitfo.  Not everyone will see things my way, but when some do, cherish those people instead of fighting empty battles.  How about this Teddisho, stop popping your collars in hurricanes wendem and just get the hell out of the rain::

So from now on, each time someone like Neb Foto comes along, I will salute him, walk away from debates with those who don’t want to share but still be their friends.  Just because they don’t see things the same as me doesn’t mean they are my enemies.  And for those that continue to try to stab me in my back, I will choose my battles wisely.  I am not about to become Gandhi, but I will overlook the majority of slights, but I shall always keep in my spirit the ability  to strike back at my choosing even as I ask God to forgive my trespassers and to forgive my sins. So the final analysis, believe in Hebret ALWAYS, build bridges to those who don’t believe in it and maybe teach them though your actions that Hebret is a Gospel good for the soul and the pockets, and for those that attack you, pray and after that, enayalen:: Now this seems—finally—that I have arrived at a place that is in fact picture perfect::

And suddenly, like light in darkness, the real truth broke in upon me; the simple fact of Man, which I had forgotten, which had lain deep buried and out of sight; the idea of community, of unity.” ~Ernst Toller


[they knew about Hebret before, when will we learn]

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[Grand Opening of Laco Melza Ethio Cafe this weekend, click pic to find out]

LACO MELZA IS A GOLD STAMPED BROWN CONDOR ENDORSED BUSINESS, PLEASE SUPPORT -HEBRET

 

[Neb Foto, DOPE Picture Perfect takers, click pic to find out company info and how to render their services for any occasion]

Author

Teddy Fikre

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