The title of our essay today appears contradictory or, at best, puzzling. How is it possible that something changes and still remains the same, when the very idea of change entails that that which has changed cannot be the same thing again? We know that reality, in all its diverse manifestations, is subject to flux.

Reflect on this irony: a young army captain helps to organize a military coup and supervises the liquidation of his commander-in-chief and the host governor, another senior military officer, of a region to which he was paying a state visit. The facts are bare: even in a military situation under a properly trained and disciplined military officer, a General must be accorded his full compliments even in death.

More than any other gory event I have seen recently, the organised killings on the Plateau point to the total absence of God in our lives, in spite of whatever religion we profess to embrace. I am not referring to religion as the peg on which the problems on the Plateau are always being hung.

Most of the responses we got with regards to the above-titled write-up were from young people. The few older people who wrote in were concerned about the unwanted pregnancies that each Valentine’s day is responsible for in the country. It seems that the more we embrace the celebration of this day, the more we have gullible young girls who believe that it’s actually a day to celebrate intimacy with their boyfriends.

All of a sudden, the language changes to suit the new situation. Fortunately, the matters involved are very simple and straightforward to people who are not shackled by demands of office.