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  • If you could rewind the time and start over from 1991
     
  • If most people could understand conscription and forced servitude are recipes for national insecurity
     
  • If University of Asmara was accepting 40,000 students per year
     
  • If the more than 300,000 young people who have left Eritrea had joined the skilled labor force
     
  • If the people that died in the Ethio-Eritrea war were still alive and raising their children
     
  • If the people that lost their lives in the Sahara, Sinai and the Mediterranean Sea were still alive and had all the opportunities in their homeland  
     
  • If Eritrea was seen as a beckon of harmony and tolerance and all faithful Eritreans had the liberty to practice their religion
     
  • If all of those political prisoners had their rights protected and they were active members of several political parties
     
  • If elections were held every four years and we had already elected five presidents
     
  • If private media outlets were operating freely and the government was always under watchful eyes
     
  • If private businesses were not monopolized by the government and Eritrean economy was dependent on private sector
     
  • If proceeds from the mining industry were used to rebuild the country’s infrastructure, schools and hospitals
     
  • If Massawa and Asab had become ports again and Tio was developed to keep up with high shipping demand
     
  • If fish from the red sea was a regular diet for Eritreans and Eritrea was exporting fish to other countries
     
  • If “entay gedeseni” or “Me First” was not widespread attitude among Eritreans and being your brother’s keeper was a common practice
     
  • If guayla and festivals were not considered sources of national pride and “Hlna” was the guiding principle
     
  • If fear of the unknown and mistrust of others were not used as justifications for acceptance of all evil
     
  • If divide and rule tactics of the government was vehemently rejected by the people
     
  • If Eritreans were not trying to find an individual solution to a collective problem
     
  • If taking responsibility and doing what’s right was preferred over high expectations of others
     
  • If silence wasn't Eritrea’s official language
Yes, these are just imaginations. I am sure for most Eritreans these do seem imagining for the impossible. However, for 90% of the world’s population, these are snapshots of everyday reality and they are considered basic. To change the current reality of our own making, first our imagination needs to awaken our conscience, followed by doing what’s right and just.  
 
Tomas Solomon