By Isaac Chol Aguer<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“There\u2019s nothing more dangerous than the growth of that parasitic weed called pride\u2026”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Nietzsche said that long before a country called South Sudan existed. But if he were to pass through our streets today, he\u2019d nod in understanding.<\/p>\n Pride? Yes.<\/strong> We are a country of two kinds of pride \u2014 the governments and the peoples. And both of them dance.<\/p>\n The government declares 9th July a public holiday\u2026 and does nothing else. No announcements. No parades.<\/p>\n Not even a simple apology for not being able to organize a celebration \u2014 in a country that passes a national budget every year.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the pride of power: <\/strong>To ignore its people, and still expect them to dance.<\/p>\n But here\u2019s the paradox, my friends: The people do dance.<\/strong> Last night\u2026 tonight\u2026 every 8th and 9th of July.<\/p>\n Even with hunger, dollar madness, and fading hope. The streets are alive. Old speakers blast music. Fancy cars cruise the dusty roads. The broken, the jobless, the survivor \u2014 all dance together.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t pride. This is stubbornness.<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s the stubbornness of a people with nothing left but a moment of noise. A moment of cheap joy. A moment to forget tomorrow.<\/p>\n People don\u2019t celebrate because the government told them to. They don\u2019t party because the dollar is down. They celebrate because there\u2019s nothing else to do.<\/p>\n And the tragedy is this: The proud and the broken dance in the same square.<\/p>\n One laughs to hide his failure. The other dances to escape his pain. And when the music stops\u2026 nothing changes.<\/p>\n This is the parasitic weed Nietzsche spoke of.<\/strong><\/p>\n The fake pride that grows in both the rulers and the ruled. A government too proud to admit its weakness. And a people too stubborn to demand better. And the saddest part?<\/p>\n Every single one of us \u2014 the minister, the boda-boda rider, the NGO worker, the lawyer who danced last night \u2014 knows that tomorrow will be no different. Same hunger. So yes \u2014 it\u2019s not a sin to laugh. It\u2019s not wrong to dance.<\/p>\n But the real shame\u2026 Is when we celebrate in the same way every year. Then wake up to the same emptiness. It\u2019s a shame to fool ourselves\u2026<\/p>\n To say “We are still here”<\/em> without asking:<\/p>\n Why here? And for how long?<\/p>\n The proud need to humble themselves.<\/p>\n The broken need to stand, not just survive. And those dancing need to know why they\u2019re dancing.<\/p>\n This is a country, not a party.<\/p>\n “Happy Independence Anniversary to the stubborn hearts that refuse to disappear.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Isaac Chol Aguer “There\u2019s nothing more dangerous than the growth of that parasitic weed called pride\u2026” Nietzsche said that long before a country called South Sudan existed. But if he were to pass through our streets today, he\u2019d nod in understanding. Pride? Yes. We are a country of[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":37431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[87,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oped","category-politics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Isaac-Aguer-1-6.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37430"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37432,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37430\/revisions\/37432"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nSame roads. Same broken promises. Same songs.<\/p>\n