Today is a very typical day in Cairo; bipolar weather, crazy traffic, another complaint from the mass in the form of a riot. And as usual, the AUC community decided to make a big fuss over the whole situation and I am currently sitting in CACE and the campus population can not exceed 50 students.
So there's the demonstration/protest/riot/label-it-however-you-want-I'm-staying-completely-neutral. But it's hard to stay completely neutral when everyone around you suddenly becomes a spokesperson for The Opinionated Idiots Who Think They're So Smart. In my Marketing class of around 40, only seven people showed up today. The AUC community decided to make a big fuss as I said. And naturally, the topic of discussion in the beginning of class had to be The Government.
Now, in conversations about The Government, I have learnt to keep my mouth shut and give a look of apathetic boredom. It saves me every time. So the six other students in class and the professor go on and on discussing The Government in—what is in my opinion— a completely irrelevant manner to the real topic at hand.
It was the guy who sits in the back row with a hot British accent (which is such an odd way for me to describe him because I generally hate British accents) who decided that a minister's income and wealth is the root of all evil in our society. At that moment, my bored and apathetic façade gave way to my shocked, teary-eyed face and I just sat there in quiet astonishment, not knowing whether I should regain my composure or get out of my chair and hysterically run up to Hot British Boy and grab him from his crisp Ralph Lauren collar and scream in his face, "Ministers and their daughters and people too, you know! Don't talk about people like that or you'll hurt their feelings!" And what the hell is he complaining about WITH HIS RALPH LAUREN JACKET?!
But of course, being me, I sat there quietly, wondering if anyone ever thought of The Government they so easily accuse for all the horrible things in the world as a group of people who wake up early six mornings a week, kiss their wives good-bye and head off to work. I wonder if they realize that their daughters pack them a nice lunch in a heat-proof container because they don't get back until late at night. I wonder if they realize that every time there's a security threat on the holidays, their whole families have to rush back to Cairo to save the day once again.
But it's so easy for British Fuck Boy to strut into class with his perfect hair and perfect clothes and sip his morning double latté from L'Aroma and blame my father for things he doesn't see and doesn't understand.
3 comments:
I don't know what to say to you. Fresh grads from medical school here make 350LE a month. Go to metro. Buy a big bottle of oil. It's 50LE. Go to a subsidized bread line. Watch how people will literally KILL each other for bread. A government worker would be SO RIDICULOUSLY LUCKY to have 3000 LE a month after he/she has been working for 15 years. It would take that government worker 12 years to afford a home in the cheaper areas of cairo for his or her son.
Those high up in the government make obscene amounts of money and those below make next to nothing.
Your Ralph Lauren classmate was being quite accurate. He probably has nothing to do with the government and could never possibly make a difference in the way the country is run. He's well off, probably on the backs of consumers, which isn't exactly ethical either but this is capitalism. But government officials are well off on the back of an entire nation of suffering people. Now I ask you, who here should be the one offended? The family of an Egyptian man who recently committed suicide because he couldn't afford anything? Or you?
I have worked in development for years and I've seen the government literally STEAL aid that was meant for philanthropy.
The fact that you got offended only proves that you know it's true as well. It sickens me how someone so educated could be so blind sighted. It sickens me that you could be offended at someone who makes a valid point and say, "What's he complaining about? He’s RICH." At least he's complaining, which isn't even something I see you doing on behalf of the people your family vowed to serve.
anon,
I think you do make a valid point.. but so does Heba. The rich guy with the hot accent is an idoit. The root of all problems is not how much the ministers make.. there are bigger problems in this country.
People have it hard here, yes they do. We are fucking lucky to have it easier than them.. and most of us are grateful...
At the same time, I know quite a few ministers and their daughters and I know that they share the same feelings.
I think Heba is saying that people blame the ministers without really looking or understanding how they think or the things they do. People see that the country has not changed overnight and they blame the ministers for this. They fail to realize that change requires many things, one of them being time.
I know her father and I know that his heart breaks when he thinks about the problems that Egyptians face... I know that his salary is not the root of evil in this country.
You can blame the government if you want.. and I am sure that they are somehow to blame. All governments make mistakes... but what this government lacks is something other governments take for granted... a society willing to believe in and work for change.. We must look at where we fail before we blame others for the complete failure...
Heba,
Don't let it get to you.. there will always be people who do not think or understand.. and at the same time there will be people who do. Life is like that... it kicks ass and sucks at the same time!
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