Societal vertigo has the power to destroy individuals and as a consequence entire nations.

We often talk about "losing everything" as being particularly painful. Knowing where everything you desire is and still not being able to find it is a level of torment that satan himself would be jealous of.

I think the short answer to Zimbabwe and the “what” of “what happened” is that we were robbed. This is the closest parallel I could draw to help you understand what happened to our nation. 

自分自身で奪われた。

Who robbed us is, to be sure, immaterial at this point in time. Even if we knew who it was who robbed us, the things that were stolen from us are irreplaceable. Family, dreams, brotherhood, our identity. These are things that simply cannot be replaced. 

Neither is there any meaningful way to heal the wounds left when all these things are ripped from your possession. Very often so quickly and violently if they were real and you were holding them, your fingers would have been removed along with whatever it was that you cherished so. 

痛みは耐えられないけど痛みが止まらない。

So this societal vertigo is the way that I think about what happens to ordinary people who are placed on pedestals. We often make these pedestals so high, so imposing that the people we place on top of them eventually succumb to either vertigo or altitude sickness. In our case I think it was both and that it affected us all.

The Romans, back in the day were aware of this and supposedly had a slave or “Auriga” who, while holding a laurel crown above the head of the triumphant general returning from war would whisper “Memento Homo” in his ear.  This, because, being greeted by throngs of people screaming how wonderful you are is bound to make you believe you are more than just human. Hence why you would need to have some whisper quietly in your ear to remind you that you are. 

私達のヒーローを高い台座の上に置く。

I would like to believe that Zimbabwe is a lesson to everyone of us. A not so quietly screamed: “Memento homo”! We are only human. No matter what is happening around us, humility is of the utmost importance and to believe otherwise perhaps results not just in our own destruction but the annihilation of everything we as a society are working towards.

Zimbabwe showed us that there is a very thin line between civilization and whatever you call living with 5000% inflation. Perhaps to not guard against falling prey to ones very own ego is condemn yourself and all those around you to misery. 

To construct these pedestals upon which we thrust our heroes is perhaps also something we should consider discontinuing forthwith.

台座から落ちやすいなので気をつけないといけない。

Lest we be complicit in our own demise.