What Can Be Dreamed, Can’t Be Lost

By Ahmed Bashe Abdi (ORSOD), Hargeysa

Dear Readers, Everybody knows that there is only one superpower, in the geographical land of the Americas today, but how many of us know that merely a few centuries ago, there was not only one but two empires (the Aztec and the Inca) that are credited today for the global rise of the greatest superpower in the 16 th century Spain!

Readers, I commit this following story of the rise and demise of an empire, to the fact that if a small band of red Indians, could create a nation within a quarter of a century and be known as the most beautiful civilization of the New world, then so can the people of Somaliland reach a status so high, the world will respect us for our dedication to achieve a dream, a dream in where we are known not as part of a Greater Somalia but as the Republic of Somaliland.

In 1420, there was a civilization on the rise in Central America , in what is known as Mexico , this civilization was called the Aztec Empire, They were perhaps the starting point of the great explosion that is known as the Age Of Discovery in the Americas .

The Aztecs were actually a weak and vulnerable race, for they had no home or place they could call their own, and wherever they tried to settle they were quickly evicted and chased by close Indian tribes, but the Aztecs were determined to find a place to settle upon, and it was this determination that led them to the Valley Of New Mexico and named their capital Tenochtitlan.

Now, the Aztecs were a race that primarily worshipped two Idols, Huitzilopochtli, the god of sun & war, and Quetzalcoatl god of learning and culture. These supposed gods were according to Aztec culture forever in conflict, as the former constantly demanded blood, which could only be gotten by human sacrifices, while the latter asked for peace so that the Aztec people could learn and attempt to build their empire. This obviously put the Aztecs in a spot of trouble, as it was apparent that the two idols couldn’t co-exist together, and one of them had to go. This was a turning point in the Aztec History, for it was the decision that they later took was going to be the demise of their civilization.

Readers, those of you who already know this story will be nodding your heads and are already contemplating the ironic turn of events about to happen, and to those who don’t I must say that the following events are somewhat documented and can still be found in evidence today.

The Aztec people, in their legends, say that Quetzalcoatl was defeated and driven away by the other idol, but on leaving spoke to them, and said that he will return on the year Ce Acatl to avenge his downfall, but what is amazing is not his supposed proclamation but on the year he mentioned, and the exact month and day, that was written, a Spaniard by the name of Hernando Cortez appeared on the coast of New Mexico, and were spotted by scouts sent by the king of the Aztecs waiting the arrival of their idol,.

Hernando Cortez, was the second white man to appear on the New Mexico, and amazingly was in the likeness of the Aztec Idol in being white and wearing a small beard as well as a black hat.

The Aztecs were unaware of the reputations of the Spanish colonizers and with the addition of believing the Spanish as gods, they brought themselves a catastrophe so large, it completely shattered the Aztec empire, with the result of their people being bought into slavery in the beginning while at the end the Aztecs became extinct due to the vast diseases the Spaniards brought with them especially smallpox.

So, in concluding my article, I advise my fellow Somalilanders on one hand, in taking hope from the Aztec people, who aside from their wrongful beliefs and practices, were a determined people and who came up from much worse circumstances as a wandering starved, persecuted group, in which we find ourselves in, to be able to walk proudly on soil and say that they were not just a nation, but an entire empire, a free, existing empire.

One last point, all Somalilanders must in the future all those hypocrites, that may come in the form of a man with a small beard and a black hat, who could harm our beautiful country and ruin what our people have strived for, so I wish to end in this note, What can be dreamed can’t be lost.

Ahmed Bashe Abdi

orsod.lm@gmail.com

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