The Change
It is quite interesting following up the Egyptians' attitude outside our boarders. That citizen in his own country spitting , throwing out garbage in the street and even driving his own car with less respect to the normal and simple principals of any decency. While that same person's attitude changes 180 degree once he gets out of the plane anywhere else outside his country. Simply he follows every single tiny rule and principal. He, by all means, tries to fit into that society by adopting the normal attitude of "western citizen".
This always brings into my mind that Quranic verse "الاقربون اولى بالمعروف" or" charity begins at home". For that citizen his own country deserves his positive change more than doing it for the sake of other countries.
This always brings into my mind that Quranic verse "الاقربون اولى بالمعروف" or" charity begins at home". For that citizen his own country deserves his positive change more than doing it for the sake of other countries.
posted by Caring Friend | 4:00 AM
6 Comments:
hi ricoo,your subject is interesting but there's one thing i want to say about it, may be the citizen's attitude changes coz he is in a foreign country;i mean like a guest when goes to a home which is not his , he behaves so decent, but when he goes to his own home u feel that it's a piece of hell. everything is a mess ,and this is a natural thing in us. of course not all of us is the same and i hope those people really change,not only for them but for their children's sake and the next generations as well
Because in Egypt,there are no rules against spitting and throwing rubbish in the street.And even if there are,they're not tough enough.Whereas outside the borders,there is DISCIPLINE and POLICEMEN who make anyone who breaks the law pay fines - at least in developped countries.
I hope we could be our own policemen.
There is a price one pays for living in a society where no one spits and throws their garbage out the window.
It has always fascinated me that in America we are not free to do any of these things. We must think about EVERY single thing we do just in case someone will see us, or we are perhaps breaking the law. After awhile it becomes very tiring because one never knows where the rules end...they don't end, every single day there are more new rules that we must follow.
And in Egypt you are free from these kinds of rules. You instead have social and moral rules that you must follow and think about before you make any decision...especially as a woman.
I don't think either one is better than the other...just different. When I was in Egypt I adored the trash in the street and the cars without seat belts and the noise and the smells. It was exhilirating to be free!!!!
And if you came here you would surely find it exhiliarating to have no social rules that you MUST follow. That doesn't mean you would choose immoral ways, just as it doesn't mean I myself spit in the street or threw trash around, but the fact that I had the choice to do so felt good.
In the end I guess what I am trying to say is that countries and cultures are what they are. If the Egyptians tried to change these things - then not only will they not be free socially, but they will not be free physically either. And then in the end they will be like Europe and America and Canada and Egypt will no longer be Egypt. And quite frankly that would be a tragedy.
I think that following the rules is not "tiring" at all as long as your inner conscinece knows that this rule is the right choice. Besides i guess it will never be exhilarting to live in a place where u can see garbage everywhere, smell nasty things and see people spitting all over, simply because its not good or healthy and its not one of our "characteristics". Its all about being too much reliable that there will come someone someday to clean after us and lead us towards the "light", even though that light is just infront of us but we're unable to recognize it.
Egypt will always be as She is because its all about her people not the "garbage" in streets, or the "smell" around. Even if this new conduct will lead to changing Egypt's "appearance" then we all need an "extreme-make-over" to welcome our new "tragedy", if the clean streets of any city are tragic then we prefer all Egypts governorates to be "tragic". Imitating the right conducts is much of getting on the right track in order to see the "light".
It's not about the garbage or the smells...that's not what I was trying to say exactly. I think what I meant is that it was exhilirating to be in a culture where there was some DEEPER meaning than the way things look. There is a clear love of family and culture and God...that is not so clear in a society that spends all their time trying to keep everything clean and organized.
Perhaps it is like the mother who spends so much time cleaning and cooking that she forgets to spend any time with her kids before it's too late and they are grown. That is one of the prices that are paid for a clean/perfect house.
It is not exhilirating to be surrounded by trash - it is exhilirating to be surrounded by people who in general realize there is more to life than trying to maintain something that is near impossible to maintain. Due to Egypts climate, lack of rain and desert location - there will always be dust. Due to Cairo's extreme population problem there will never be enough trash cans in the street - due to Egypts economic situation there will be no time soon when there are enough employees to manually clean the streets and paint and repair everything. Yes, you could fight all these things, everyone could take personal responsibility etc. etc. - but in the end it would require so much time and effort that so many beautiful things about your culture would take a backseat.
Interesting story (perhaps you know it, but in case not I will type it here)- at one time some American group (I don't know if it was a govmt agency or what) decided that they could help clean up Cairo by implementing a similiar system to the United States trash program. They gave Egpyt trash trucks similiar to ours and installed large trash dumpsters in places around the city to see how it would work. They thought it was a great idea and that it would improve the lives of those living in Cairo. Anyway - a very short time later they realized that the had not taken into consideration Cairo's needs. Eventually all the trash trucks ended up broken, and in an unusually short period of time. The people who had thought this was a great idea did not realize that the trash habits between Westerners was completely different than those in the East. The trash in Egypt is much much heavier (as we throw more paper products and light trash away - and you more glass etc.) The dumpsters ended up so heavy that the trucks were destroyed.
In addition to THIS problem, there was another serious problem -a major source of employment for many poor Egyptians was taken away when they were not able to collect the trash and recycle/re-sell it in the way that they had in the past.
Because you live in it and you see it and smell it everyday I can guess it is much harder for you to see past the dirt into the soul of the place where you live.
When I was in Cairo somone asked me what was one word I would use to describe it. I said "alive". Cairo is alive - Egypt is alive - and although there are a few cities in the U.S and Europe that have a similiar feel - none of them are as raw and real and as beautiful as the life in Cairo. Yes indeed, I don't have to live there and be surrounded by it everyday - but as I walk outside my door in my super clean neighborhood where I have hundreds of neighbors but never see a single one of them because they open their garage door with a button, step into their car, close their garage with another button in their car and disappear until they return at night in the same manner - as I walk outside all this orginization, and well-kept grass, and automatic sprinkler systems, and clean sweet smelling streets....I can't help but wish I was in Cairo so that for a short time I could realize that I'm not the only one in this world. That the car I drive and the job I have and the street I live on doesn't DEFINE me! There is a story on every face in Cairo - some happy, some horribly sad, but whatever is there is somehow a hundred times more real than the faces here. You can walk down one single block in Cairo and see more beauty than you can in the entire city of Paris or Los Angeles. Why? Because what you see is REAL. You can see souls, beautiful, gentle simple and loving souls. There are an equal amount of beautiful souls here, but one rarely gets the chance to see them.
I adore my country and my countrymen, for many many reasons -I am not at all saying either one is superior in any way...I truly adore them both equally. You just sounded very frustrated by the situation there and I wanted to give you a different view of it. I do not love Cairo's trash because it is 'charming' and unique and exotic...I do not recommend living in an unhealthy environment - but if you have to you might as well try to find a way to see it in a more gentle light. When you wake up tomorrow to the calls of prayers and the man in the street selling bread and the cars honking...know that there is girl in America who envies you more than you will ever know...simply because she hears absolutely nothing except the automatic heater kicking on and the sound of her own breathing.
If i had to choose between living in Egypt with her dirty streets or live in any other city with clean, kneat atmosphere i would definately choose Egypt not because its my country but because i've never seen much loving and caring people as we are. However that doesnt mean that i have also to choose the garbage around the streets if i had the opportunity to change that filthy view i'd sieze it with my utmost efforts. cairo and Egypt will remain as they are whether they are clean or dirty because Egypt wouldn't have been like that if it hadn't been for her caring and loving people so the people just have to have more awareness about clean environment to be able to live better not just be stereo typed routine member of society. Still we are EGYPTIANS.
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