BEYOND INSANITY

When Hope Lost Its Meaning
Chapter 2
WAR IS the greatest enemy of mankind, someone is reported to have said in frustration. It was apparent that whoever said it might have seen the horror of war and he could no longer remain unconcerned for its destructive nature. But again, one may ask: Is mankind's history devoid of war? From the beginning of time, the Bible reports the continuous battles the Israelites engaged in and the destruction that those wars routed on mankind.

So it can be said that the wars of our time, while different in the means and methods of their prosecution, are not really different in their end result. The results are death and the destruction of material properties that have been sought after after many painful years.

But whoever thought that a nation born out of the frustrations of the world's greatest inhuman trade, the slave trade, could end up destroying what was cherished to build in the days when man's desire for emancipation was at its highest demand, might have been considered insane. But the reality after over one hundred years of statehood made it an obvious fact that what can be described as deliberate failure played a major role in the actions of the leaders and eventually sent Liberia to face its tragic history.

I am not sure but I can say with certainty that the fragile foundation of Liberia and the shortsightedness that accompanied its development, sadly, set the stage for the eventual conflagration and division of the nation-state. And when the dust finally settled, the nation was bleeding and panting for breadth.

Poor thing!

So it came to pass that when the war was announced on the air-waves of the BBC, many people thought with the manner the leader of the insurgents, (call them rebels if you wish) was confidently declaring the movement's objectives, that it would have been a few days' clearance.

The unpopularity of the Samuel Doe regime had sunk deeper into the abbys of the people's discontent. He had become a nuisance and the man whose triumphant entry into the Liberian political landscape had engendered so much goodwill was becoming a non-entity among the people. "Monkey come down," was refrain, as thousands demonstrated throughout the major streets of Monrovia, to express their disastisfaction and by that way telling him that it was time to leave the chair. And everybody agreed, though with some exception, that Samuel Doe had outlived his usefulness. In doing this damage to his ego, the insurgents' leader, Charles Taylor declared with an element of confidence that the "only good Doe was a dead one."

The successes of the insurgents to kick the butt of the national soldiers created some optimism and hope among many of the people. There was a sizable number of the people who had otherwise remained cautious of the simmering declarations of the man in the bush. But as it is with the affairs of men, when the end comes for the one who has ruled with an iron hand, many are those who consider him a historical person. The war had become the archilles hill of the Doe regime, and as the insurgents continued to announce their successes, the spirit of the soldiers began to deflate.

In anger, the soldiers turned on the civilian population, and it is with shame that I write this and I hope, it is with shame, you may read it: Gios and Manos residing in the capital and other political opponents became sacrificial lambs for the vanguished national army. The hope that had been seen at the end of the tunnel was losing steam. For, it was not for long before the insurgents began to kill off all Liberians. They were not discriminating among those who had wished for the old regime to go. It was, by all accounts, the self-destruction of a nation that could not remember its heroes.

And those who understood the meaning of hope could not agree that the insurgents had anything better for the battered nation.