I believe we have vibrant and beautiful culture. For millennia, our culture has been shaped by ups and downs. It has withstood the test of time as well as several external influences. For most part, I’m proud of the culture I inherited from my ancestors and more proud to pass it on to my children. For example, unlike most cultures, we respect our elders. Who wouldn’t amongst us give up their seats when an elder comes? How about the ‘gursha’ now immortalize forever thanks to The Simpson! For me gursha symbolizes the love we have for each other but only wrapped in enjera and wot. I think this page won’t be big enough to list of all the great attributes embedded in our culture.

But the aim of this article is not to recount the good in our cultures but to highlight that element that I feel has been virtually non existent in it. I want to briefly discuss about recognizing and awarding excellence or the lack there of in our culture. Discussing this idea is seems more fitting in the wake of the biggest awarding night in the whole of the universe that we call The Oscars. Beyond the fame and glamour; the dress and the extravaganzas, at the heart of The Oscar, The Grammy, The Nobel Prize and so on is recognizing excellence and awarding one. These are grand events where excellent contribution are recognized and awarded. As well as those who posses them validated in front of billions of TV viewers. For the time being forget about the grand scale and coverage these particular events garner. Instead focus on the essence of recognizing and awarding excellence. That is where I see major flaw in our culture. Our culture seems to fall short in areas of appreciation, awarding and rewarding excellence. I don’t think we as an individual or collectively have grown enough to comfortably live with excellence. When was the last time, at any point of our history and at level of society, we ever recognized and awarded excellence? On the contrary, all us can recounts several incidents in which we have done the opposite.  

What bothers me the most is the way we deal with the excellence and the people who posses those qualities.  While most in the western world respect, protect and award excellence, we on the other hand either belittle, destroy or silence it. I can comfortably say that we have an excellence-intolerance culture and it is not difficult to see the toll this had and continues to have on the development of country. We often fail to distinguish between professional and artistic contribution from serving a particular ruling class or particular individual. Our military heroes, our great philosophers, scientists, artists of the past and present had and have been selflessly serving their country. Most people were not and are not serving a particular ruling class or section of the public. They selflessly were and are serving the people and country dearly love. Hence their contribution should have been and be duly recognized and awarded! Not doing so is depriving the country of its mind and conscious hence leave its people in backward state forever. It is also worth noting that this cultural attribute is not limited to certain individual, group of individuals or to specific period of time in our history. This element of our culture seems to be one thing we share with our peers, politicians and the larger public of the day as wells as the past.

I need to emphasize though that, at any point of our history; we have never been short of talents. Our country has been producing excellence in the filed of military, philosophy, art, science and technology for thousands of years. But we have never felt at ease and comfortable with such excellence. The way we dealt and still dealing with excellence is through elimination, silencing, incarcerating and pushing to exile than awarding it. Why I’m saying this? Have you ever witnessed any event, which recognize the excellence and contributions of our own individuals and award them accordingly? When is the last time that you ever heard of or attended an event that recognizes the excellence and contribution of our own? This question is more fitting in the wake of today’s grand awarding event that we call The Oscar. Think about it! I believe it has been long overdue to organize one regular national event that will recognize and award excellence. Enjoy The Oscar!