Radar | Jan 24,2026
Jan 7 , 2022
By Kidist Yidnekachew
I am often accused of taking sides with the underdog. Perhaps I feel they deserve it as not many people side with them. At the same time, for as long as I can remember, I have taken sides with strangers instead of family members. They would be mad at me and question my loyalty to them. But it is a way of making them see the other side from the other person’s perspective. This is not always the case, though. I would like to believe I often side with the truth or aspire to even though I do not always succeed.
This is one example. Last month in a taxi, there were two people sitting in front of me. They were conversing with the driver; I figured they knew each other based on their conversation. We reached a route where many cars were in queue and the lane was narrow. The cars were queuing on one side of the road waiting.
In typical fashion, our taxi came from behind and moved forward, ignorant to the long queue and even got the audacity to honk to make the other cars make way for him. A driver inside another car pulled the window down and spoke to our driver.
“We have been standing here for minutes. Don’t you think we could have cut lines like you? We could have done that but we chose not too out of morality,” he said.
The taxi driver nodded but without any trace of remorse. That was not what got me angry. The two people sitting at front were siding with him as if what he did was right.
“Why won’t the car next to you let you in?” one of them said. “One more car won’t make a difference.” The lady next to him added, “is that a woman in the car? She should give in and let you pass.”
The taxi driver agreed, “It’s not my fault I saw an empty lane and I took it.”
He did not realise or perhaps ignored the fact that the lane was empty because all the cars decided to stand in line on one side of the lane but the driver drove past them. It is an insult.
The two people took the side of the driver even with the knowledge that what he did was wrong. This is what is wrong with our times. Perhaps it has always been a problem: siding with people that are wrong simply to be perceived as loyal.
Loyalty should not be to side with someone even when they are wrong. It is standing by them and showing them the right way, and being with them regardless of the consequences of their actions. But pretending like they are right or, worse, telling them they are right when they are wrong is being blind to the truth.
I chose not to say anything because I did not want the situation to blow up. The whole thing made me realise humanity’s selfishness. We are the only ones who have urgent matters to take care of and as long as we are inside the car that cuts the line, it is all good. When the tables are turned and we are the ones in the car that is getting cut, we get furious.
When does the hypocrisy end? When do we stand up for the truth regardless of who said it and not side with wrongdoers regardless of their affiliations to us?
Little do we know we are reinforcing the social ill that will eventually be perpetrated against us. It takes courage to stand up to the truth, even against friends and family, to make the communities we live in a better place.
PUBLISHED ON
Jan 07,2022 [ VOL
22 , NO
1132]
Radar | Jan 24,2026
Obituary | Sep 14,2024
Fortune News | Mar 18,2023
Fortune News | Aug 09,2025
Money Market Watch | Apr 13,2025
My Opinion | Dec 25,2021
Covid-19 | Jan 30,2021
Fortune News | Aug 21,2021
My Opinion | Mar 30,2019
Life Matters | Aug 29,2020
Photo Gallery | 193090 Views | May 06,2019
Photo Gallery | 182979 Views | Apr 26,2019
Photo Gallery | 179762 Views | Oct 06,2021
My Opinion | 145228 Views | Aug 14,2021
Dec 22 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW
Charged with transforming colossal state-owned enterprises into modern and competitiv...
Aug 18 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Although predictable Yonas Zerihun's job in the ride-hailing service is not immune to...
Jul 28 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW
Unhabitual, perhaps too many, Samuel Gebreyohannes, 38, used to occasionally enjoy a couple of beers at breakfast. However, he recently swit...
Jul 13 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Investors who rely on tractors, trucks, and field vehicles for commuting, transporting commodities, and f...
Aug 8 , 2026
The World Bank asks readers to picture a mother in rural Ethiopia who has never held...
Jul 31 , 2026
Weldu Yiheysh has not read the Pacific temperature charts. He does not need to. In Shibta District of Enderta Wereda, in...
Jul 25 , 2026
Ideally, citizens who have paid income tax all year should not have to reach for thei...
Jul 18 , 2026
Pressed in Parliament on jobs and household incomes, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD)...
Aug 9 , 2026 . By NAHOM AYELE
Anbesa Bank has elected an entirely new board of directors, nine months after the Boa...
Ethiopia Hotel, one of the country's oldest hospitality establishments and a landmark...
Aug 9 , 2026 . By FITSUM TADESSE
The excise-tax reform on alcohol and tobacco has done much of what it was made to do...
Aug 9 , 2026 . By BEZAWIT HULUAGER and ABDUREUF JUHAR
Three inter-city transport companies have spent 450 million Br on new vehicles to mee...
Loading your updates...