I suddenly felt exhausted… and stayed
waiting for something unpleasant to happen… that is why I did not write for
Almasry alyoum or Al Ahram newspapers last week. It seems that man has an
inactive sense that starts to go active at the end of his mundane life, only
then this sense begins to operate. That is what I used to deny whenever my dear
late friend Mr. Kamel Zoheiri used to direct his stating question to me during
the last year of his life saying: hey, boy… don’t you smell fire and death like
I do?... something big is going to happen in the country, don’t you feel it? Then
I answer him, knowing his medical condition: no, sir… our generation doesn’t
feel, smell, hear or see anything… coz you left no senses for us to feel.
Three years later, fire broke out and
we smelled death in January, 2011 incidents.
I stayed in this state of exhaustion
for two or three days until I received the news of two of my friends having died
in one day. First of them was actor Mr. Nour esh-Sherif whom I knew closely at
the end of the eighties. We used to spend long hours discussing while we are
standing in the swimming pool because it happened that both of us do not know
how to swim.
The second was Engineer Maged Gamal
ed-Din, my friend and colleague for almost half a century since we were at the university
until this moment. We had common opinions in thought, politics and human issues.
I could not go to the cemetery – while I was in that exhaustion state – and
kept crying until I went to the mourning ceremony.
I prepared myself to write about them
as they are symbols of the generation I belong
to… that generation born at the mid-forties of the 20th century and
is now at its seventies… a few months less or more. However, I suddenly saw a
glimpse of hope… like a fish in shallow muddy water that unexpectedly had a
current of pure water flooding.
That glimpse of hope came from
president Sisi speech that I listened to by chance on the radio while I was in
the car. I knew from the announcer that it was a seminar given to members of
the armed forces. In that speech, I knew that there are fish farms that will be
established during the coming two years that could produce up to 100 thousand tons
of fish and that will be well-equipped at the highest level. I also knew about
the 1.5 million feddans to be reclaimed… the new El
Alamein city planned to
be established and extending for about 13 km on the shore that will be
available for all people and not only for those who can pay… the fourth thing
was establishing fully-equipped communities in the far regions of Egypt; Sinai,
Nubia and the western desert starting from the city of el-Dabaa.
However, the most important in that
speech was when president Sisi talked about building minds along with souls. To
me, and to many others, this is the most important thing to start with. As all
these achievements may come true, however – like my colleague and friend
Ibrahim Eissa says – someone, addressing people in a mosque or appearing in a
TV program, may issue a Fatwa that prohibits eating those farms’ production
or living in those new communities… etc. The only solution to this is to build
people’s minds so that they do not become an easy prey for those who turned our
life into hell through their Fatwas.
We all talk about building the
Egyptian mind without paying due attention to the Egyptian soul. Since I am an
experienced Sufi and ex-dervish, I realize the importance of paying more
attention to the soul over the mind. It is exactly what muslim brotherhood and
Jihadists’ leaders represent. They use their minds due to the university and
PhD degrees they hold, however, they have never made use of their souls for a
single moment. In such regard, there is a lot to say, however that shall
distract us from our topic.
President Sisi then talked openly
about the law of civil service and I do agree with what he says. We all have
long complained of the inefficient performance of government and administrative
entities. Those 8 million government employees could be reduced to less than 2
million so that performance can improve. However, whenever there is a tough
measure taken to amend this, some start protesting. The state will start the
operation of the gradual reform of such entities so that our country can go out
of that swamp of underdevelopment, poverty, ignorance, illness and incompetence…
adding to this the plan of transferring all the government institutions from
Cairo to the new administrative capital that will be designed according to the
latest international specifications.
Here, I would like to mention the
suggestion I long heard from Eng. Salah Diab regarding the ultimate importance
to transfer all professions centered in the middle of Cairo to that new
capital; meaning to transfer all those clinics, lawyers and accountants’
offices and other companies, so that people can wake up every day to see the
capital they see every Friday morning; almost-empty streets… clean gardens… no
garbage… easy transportations.
That was the glimpse of hope I saw
after I was shocked by the death of my friends. It is what made me postpone
writing about the generation that is starting to bid us farewell one after
another.
This article was published in Almasry
alyoum newspaper on August 18, 2015.
To see the original article, go to:
#almasry_alyoum #ahmed_elgammal #hope
#Sisi #Egypt
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