Thursday, 13 July 2017

We will not give up




We need some people to intrude into the very moments of our life… whose main mission is to bring joy back to us… to sneak it back to the forefront of our reality and then let it permeate to what lies behind this forefront…meaning in the tiny details of the social and psychological composition of people… hoping that our old Egyptian qualities can come back… atop of this is our smile and sense of humor… also, the principle of “do it and leave the rest to God”… which means do your job fully, love your country, and leave the rest to God… as he is the one to rely on and ask for help.

In theaters and circuses, there are some people who mean to bring joy to people by performing satirical entertaining comedy… and maybe they intrude into the moment and capture it when they do their performance… meaning they could be suffering from a hardship or dogged by a tragedy in that same moment… but for the sake of delivering their message, doing their job, sustaining their source of income, or maybe all these together, they sieze the moment and please people, who came to search for a spot of light amid darkness, to give them a glimpse of hope of finding a feeling of happiness even if temporary.

This is not a call to mislead people, deceive them, or keep them busy from achieving a real change in their reality… but a call to revive our spirits, alleviate the pain and unlock our potentials… it is a daunting task not anyone can do it.

We need male and female teachers in the tertiary education and professors in university education entitled to deal with the conscience and minds of their students… teachers and professors who have no shame in being humble with their students during teaching or even in a part time of the break, between lectures, or in a journey… we need male and female teachers and professors who recognize the importance of student activities and who can be seriously in charge of activities’ committees and university students’ groups… ones who attend the activities of scouting, sports games, acting, music, and drawing… they may even exert some effort, spend more time, or spend some money for the sake of this.

We need employees; seniors and juniors, who can separate between their low income and tough life conditions, and their role in serving the people of this country… employees who know that kind words and smiling at people is a good deed… employees who realize that their job is to serve people’s needs… and that only God is the one who will reward them for their good job… employees who know that the renaissance of their nation will not take place unless they do their job with diligence, honor and spirit of giving… not waiting for reward or thanking words from anyone.

We also need artists, journalists, writers and thinkers who realize that word is more powerful than any weapon… and that this word knows its way to its target; meaning to revive the nation on all levels… and so they do not use this word to serve the ruling regime… as in such case, this word will lead to people’s aversion to what they say and to people hating their exaggeration in ignoring negative things by making excuses and faking positive points while the regime itself is adopting the principle of transparency and openness and believes the most successful way to achieve reform is to admit mistakes and reveal negative points… since forcing the pus to ooze out is better than dying.

We need artists, journalists, writers, thinkers who realize that the bullet of resistance is different to that of fighting… and that aiming at the target shall not disregard the course the bullet will take… as maybe, while in its way to attack and hit an official or an institution, it may pass through the nation’s body, making it bleed while the targeted one missed the bullet.

It may look unsuitable to mention the next example, however I have already written about it before and I find it very suitable in a way or another to our present case; that is the difference between Naddaba[1] and the clown… as people either recall or go to both of them… they ask the services of the first one to express moments of grief and pain while the second is asked to bring about moments of joy and hope.

As some of those who write in newspapers or write plays, movie scripts for TV, cinema and even mobiles are always keen to play the role of Naddaba… that one who may dye her face and hair with black… not hesitate to throw dust over her face, head and all her body… is professional in coining phrases of wailing and lamenting… and may go far in raising her voice tone just to bring people to grieve over the dead… she does all this just to master her role… such Naddaba lay her conditions down since no one can do her job like she does, while she does not have the slightest feeling of grief or pain.

On the contrary, the clown exaggerates in making his outlook appear funny by dyeing his face with bright joyful colors, getting dressed in comic costumes, doing more comic gestures specially to children who still have hope in life… he aims at planting joy and hope in people’s souls… at paying their attention to deep humane significance using a simple satirical humorous language… as what he does may alleviate the hard times he himself may be passing through.

We yearn for the joy those criminal terrorists killed in us… those who did not only killed our sons in the armed forces, police, judiciary, and civilians… but also meant to kill joy, happiness, and hope in our life… so that we become a nation poor in its feelings… a nation that lives on pain… but we must resist.

Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar



This article was published in Al Ahram newspaper on July 13, 2017.

To see the original article, go to:

#alahram #ahmed_elgammal #Egypt #bring_joy_to_our_life



[1] A hired female mourner.

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