“When a society values words more than deeds, it begins to die,” Chinua Achebe
The Dwarfing of Mountains
In our time, one must take great care not to let mountains be dwarfed by termite hills, nor to allow towering trees to be shadowed by mere bushes. This warning applies most vividly to how we, as a society, use the power of the media—print, electronic, and social—to shape our perception of greatness.
The media can either magnify or diminish personalities, building reputations or erasing them altogether. Throughout history, some have risen from obscurity to global recognition through media exposure, while others—genuine thinkers, researchers, artists, and leaders—have seen their contributions hidden, scorned, or forgotten simply because they lacked access to the same platform.
Today, the media often transforms those who have achieved small things into figures of national or even international fame. Meanwhile, those who labor quietly in science, education, or art—whose works genuinely elevate their communities—are too often ignored.
The Business of Making and Unmaking Greatness
The media’s primary purpose, especially in our commercialized age, is profit—not truth. Its survival depends on attracting attention, not nurturing wisdom. In this process, a person of modest talent can be transformed into a celebrity. Once a name or face becomes profitable, the media continues to feed that image, turning the individual into an icon of influence often detached from real substance.
Such “media-made greatness” can even deceive the individual involved. Surrounded by applause, gifted with rewards, and showered with praise, the person begins to believe in his own inflated image. He may enjoy comfort, fame, and social prestige, yet ironically, he may lose his independence. His life becomes orchestrated by the media owner who holds the invisible strings of his public image.
The message is clear: “The secret spice of your greatness is with me. Do not stray from my path.” In such arrangements, the so-called great person becomes a product, not a personality; a performer, not a pioneer.
This dynamic is neither new nor unique to Ethiopia. Across the world, media-driven fame often eclipses genuine merit. In politics, entertainment, and even academia, marketing has replaced merit as the main road to recognition. As Achebe warned, “When a society values words more than deeds, it begins to die.”
Greatness in the Shadows: The Ethiopian Context
This phenomenon is increasingly visible in Ethiopia. While there is nothing wrong in celebrating rising talents, there is great danger in allowing business interests to hide the truly great. Those who dedicate their lives to research, teaching, or social service are too often forgotten, while those with limited achievements are celebrated for temporary popularity.
Professor Haile Gerima
Let us consider one name that deserves far greater recognition: Professor Haile Gerima, the internationally renowned Ethiopian filmmaker and educator. A towering figure of world cinema, Haile Gerima stands as a living symbol of artistic independence and truth. Born in Gondar, Ethiopia, in 1946, he became internationally known as a filmmaker, teacher, and thinker who challenges the distortions of African identity in Western media. His films—Harvest: 3000 Years, Bush Mama, and especially Sankofa—are not mere stories; they are acts of cultural resistance and recovery.
Haile Gerima’s story is a compelling counterexample to the trend of media-made fame. Unlike those who rely on commercial publicity, his reputation is earned through artistic courage and uncompromising truth. Trained in the United States, he became one of the foremost voices of the L.A. Rebellion—a movement of African and African-American filmmakers who challenged Hollywood’s distorted portrayal of Black identity.
His masterpieces, such as Sankofa (1993) and Teza (2008), explore themes of memory, slavery, resistance, and return. Through these films, Gerima confronted both Western colonial narratives and African self-forgetfulness. Yet, despite international acclaim, his name remains less celebrated within Ethiopia than it deserves. While those who make trivial entertainment receive daily media attention, Gerima’s body of work—an archive of cultural consciousness and artistic integrity—remains underappreciated.
Though he has received international awards and teaches film at Howard University, Haile Gerima is still less recognized in his homeland than entertainers whose fame is fleeting. Yet his vision has inspired generations of African filmmakers to reclaim their narratives. His quiet greatness reminds us that true art depends not on the noise of publicity but on the depth of purpose.
This imbalance reveals a deeper moral issue: the triumph of appearance over essence.
Professor Asrat Woldeyes (1928–1999)
A surgeon, scholar, and patriot, Professor Asrat was not only a healer of bodies but a defender of truth. He established the Faculty of Medicine at Addis Ababa University and trained hundreds of doctors who now serve in Ethiopia and abroad. He also stood courageously for democracy and freedom, enduring imprisonment for his beliefs. Yet today, while his students still whisper his name with reverence, his story is seldom told in mainstream media.
Engineer Kitaw Ejigu (1948–2006)
One of Ethiopia’s most brilliant scientific minds, Engineer Kitaw Ejigu was an aerospace scientist at NASA in the United States. He developed several key technologies used in spacecraft navigation systems and remained deeply patriotic throughout his life. Despite these extraordinary achievements, few Ethiopians recognize his name or know that one of their own helped advance space exploration.
Artist Alle Felegeselam (1932–2016)
Known as the father of modern Ethiopian art, Alle Felegeselam founded the Addis Ababa Art School (now the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design). Through his teaching and leadership, he shaped generations of Ethiopian painters and sculptors who defined the country’s post-war art scene. Yet how many young people today can name him? While imported entertainment fills our screens, the legacy of such cultural builders fades quietly.
Professors Ahmed Ali and Ahmed Abdul Moen
Both represent the intellectual rigor and moral discipline that defined Ethiopia’s finest academic era. Professor Ahmed Ali, a public health scientist with nearly 170 research publications, and Professor Ahmed Abdul Moen, a globally recognized health expert and educator, have devoted their lives to improving health systems in Ethiopia and abroad. Yet the media, driven by commercial priorities, often neglects such enduring contributions in favor of fleeting personalities.
Professor Zaki Sheriff (1932–2005)
In reflecting on the theme of misplaced honor and forgotten greatness, it is fitting to recall Professor Zaki Sheriff, a name that should resound among the intellectual giants of modern Ethiopia.
Born in Harar, a city renowned for its synthesis of scholarship, spirituality, and art, Zaki Sheriff belonged to a noble generation of Ethiopian educators who believed knowledge was not for personal gain but for the elevation of a nation’s conscience. Trained in England and the United States at a time when few Ethiopians studied abroad, he returned home not to seek comfort or publicity but to serve.
A pioneering professor of biology and education, he taught at Addis Ababa University and other institutions for decades. He inspired students to see science as both a moral and cultural enterprise—a discipline through which one learns not only to analyze life’s structure but to respect life itself. His classroom was never confined to walls; he urged students to connect learning with community, theory with ethics, and science with spirituality.
Unlike those whose names echo through media soundbites, Zaki Sheriff belonged to the quiet fraternity of nation-builders whose legacy survives in the minds and manners of their students. His humility was legendary: he walked to his lectures carrying his own notes, refusing privileges, and insisting that academic honor must come from integrity, not titles. In this, he embodied the opposite of the media-made celebrity—a man whose greatness resided in moral depth, intellectual rigor, and service to humanity.
Internationally, Professor Zaki’s story parallels that of countless under-recognized educators and scientists across Africa, Asia, and Latin America—scholars who built the foundations of knowledge but never saw their faces on magazine covers. Their anonymity is not a failure; it is a reflection of a world that too often rewards the visible rather than the valuable.
These examples remind us that a society that praises noise but neglects wisdom is bound to lose its direction. If the media continues to confuse popularity with greatness, our national memory will grow shallow, our moral compass will weaken, and our youth will look to screens instead of scholars for guidance.
The Trap of Media-Made Fame
When a person becomes “great” through media applause—by flattery, awards, and exposure—they may begin to believe in their constructed image. Surrounded by comfort, wealth, and praise, they can mistake popularity for greatness. Yet their independence is gone; their voice and direction are dictated by the sponsor or owner who created their fame. As one might say, “The secret spice of your greatness is with me—so do not stray from my path.” Such a person has visibility but not freedom.
This experience, unfortunately, is spreading in our country as well. There is nothing wrong in celebrating individuals or promoting achievers, but we must not hide the truly great in order to glorify the small, nor belittle those who have done much in favor of those who have done little but shine brightly under media lights.
If we are not careful, we risk a society that remembers entertainers but forgets educators, quotes influencers but ignores innovators, and praises noise while neglecting wisdom.
International Parallels: A Global Misplacement of Honor
The tendency to glorify the shallow while neglecting the profound is not peculiar to Ethiopia. Across the world, we see similar distortions. In the West, reality television stars gain more recognition than Nobel laureates. Social media “influencers” command global audiences while philosophers and scientists labor in anonymity. The American linguist Noam Chomsky once remarked that serious ideas are “silenced not by censorship but by distraction.” The noise of triviality drowns out the quiet voice of truth.
In Africa, great intellectuals such as Ali Mazrui, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, and Wangari Maathai had to seek international platforms before being fully recognized at home. Their stories remind us that moral courage and intellectual independence are often met with silence before they are met with applause.
The pattern is universal: those who think deeply and serve sincerely are rarely the first to be recognized—but they are the ones whose work endures.
A Moral Reflection
A society that forgets its true heroes loses its direction. When business-driven media elevate the trivial and obscure the profound, moral proportion collapses.
Greatness is not a performance but a principle. It is measured not by visibility but by virtue—not by how loudly one is praised, but by how deeply one serves.
If we wish to renew our national spirit, we must learn to recognize and honor those who build with patience and purpose. The builders of thought—educators, researchers, artists, and moral leaders—must not be left in the shadows while momentary celebrities occupy the light.
As media consumers and as citizens, we share the responsibility to see clearly, remember fairly, and honor justly. The time has come to reclaim our sense of proportion—to ensure that termite hills do not tower over mountains, and that great trees are not hidden behind bushes.
Only then can we say that we live in a society that values truth over trend, wisdom over wealth, and service over self.
In the end, great intellectuals represent two forms of enduring greatness: one creative, one intellectual—both moral. Their lives prove that the light of authentic contribution can never be permanently dimmed, even when the media turns away.
Let us, therefore, learn to look beyond the glitter and rediscover the gold. Let us not allow mountains to be dwarfed by termite hills, nor the light of great trees to be shadowed by bushes. Ethiopia’s true greatness lies not in fleeting fame but in the steady work of those who serve, build, and uplift without demanding applause.
And so we must ask ourselves: How many of our great Ethiopians walk among us unseen, their achievements quietly nourishing the nation?
“The sun cannot be hidden by the palm of the hand.” — Ethiopian Proverb
True greatness, however quiet, will always rise above the shadows.
Contributed by Teshome Birhanu Kemal
