Okay, let me begin from the beginning. It is about the President of the Ivory Coast. Ivorians dont like the English form of the name of their country. So the official name is Côte d'Ivoire – with all the accents. So I am talking about Monsieur le Président de la Côte d'Ivoire.
I was in the country when he came to power. I was intrigued by his speech capacity. He has an appetite for speeches, words, talk, audience, crowd, media ... whatever you feel more comfortable with. He kicks off and goes on...
I cannot say if it is something that all long-fighting opposition leaders naturally come to power with.. the power of and love for .. words..
So, personally, though I follow his speeches, I have come to the experienced knowledge that I can move from his channel, go enjoy something else, and still come back and meet him speaking. Whichever way, the speech will have an encore broadcast. So no worries..
Until few days ago! I saw the beginning of the ceremony and as usual, went off to check what was happening elsewhere on TV. I came back a dozen minutes later and the speech was done!
Aie aie aie! What happened? I was seriously intrigued.
I found out the next morning... the speech is now registered in the annals of the history of Côte d'Ivoire as his shortest presidential speech ever! Why? Well it lasted less than 200 seconds! It even ended in tears...
The bigger chunk of the speech was: “Il nous arrive souvent les malheurs, mais c'est pas souvent que le monde entier est solidaire de la Côte d'Ivoire, ... choke, choke... repeat, ... tears, tears, Je vous remercie. Dieu benisse la Côte d'Ivoire”
The speech was his address during a commemoration service for the nineteen young persons who were stampeded to death during a soccer match at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan. He began by expressing his sadness, then thanked FIFA for the one minute silence that was observed in all the matches that were part of the World Cup qualifiers series. The President was touched by the global solidarity. For the minute was observed in Europe, Southern America, and all over. And so at the time when he was thanking FIFA and stating the fact that 'We have had misfortunes, but it is not all the time that the whole world has shown us solidarity...' he lost his voice.. tried again, lost it again, then the tears.. and he could only close with 'thank you, God bless Cote d'Ivoire'
It was a humbling moment for many who followed. I looked into the face of the man and I saw agony. At that moment in time, the weight of all the 'misfortunes' through which his country has come was on his shoulders. I saw in his face, the broken dreams – dreams he had when he was an opposition leader; the shattered vision – the vision he had when he was elected into power; the lost hopes – hopes he had instilled in his immediate entourage when he took power; the loneliness – the loneliness of a leader whose aim is to make his country honoured and respected in the global arena but who has seen that 'they dont really care much about us'; the powerlessness – of one who wishes he could do more... for a people weary of war, seeking for a national identity, fighting to unite, struggling to survive...
And I was reminded of the words of one of the actors on the famous 24 TV series – the Vice President. I dont have the exact words but he was telling himself that it was very easy to tell folks what to do about a situation as long as the responsibility of the situation was on the other person. Until you step into the other's shoes... and you find out that you dont have a handle on anything... nothing... absolutely nothing... and you begin to understand, appreciate and value those who have been there before you...
So to all those who nurture presidential dreams, hopes, visions and plan...
Please keep a space for the humble tears...
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