The Running Egyptian....

As I drive in my car, air conditioned... complaining about traffic and the increasing price of gas... and probably the annoying commercial breaks on the radio.. I look out the window.... and realize how naive and limited I could sometimes be....

And that is what I see... I see Egyptians running... just running to get by with their day. They spend all their time running, hoping they get through the day!

They wake up and the race begins... they run to buy bread... then run to get to work... then run to catch the bus which for the record is terrible, but its their only option. Let alone that they can run for miles and still miss the crappy bus... humiliating every bit of pride they ever owned!

They graduate and find no job; so they start selling tissue and other random products on the street. And they run like beggars to each car that passes by in hope of getting anything out of them... And maybe one day run into a friend or classmate and sink in embarrassment at how life got him to this stage...

I see little kids working instead of being in schools.... running after each customer for an extra tip...

Old people and handicapped people sitting on street sides hoping someone would give them 50 piasters or something to eat because they didn't find a system that would give them the respect and support they need!

I see people going through trash in hopes they would find something to eat... I see perfectly "once good" youth stealing and then running away like thieves.... I see them break the law and run away in order not to get caught! And as much as I like to call them corrupt... I give them the excuse... because the same guy who steals, is the same guy who would defend the girl in the street if someone was to hurt or harass her...

Sometimes I even see them give up... run away to other countries, or at least try, pay every penny they and their families own and then they either sink in the ocean or die out of grieve... and if they're lucky and they get back "home" they find themselves in places worst than where they left... 

I see all these examples, and as much as get annoyed by them on the spot... I look at them and although I try to say that they're lazy, intolerable people... At first sight I say if they can run around the street all day they can find themselves a job! I criticize them... and then I realize that if they do get a job; they'd get 200 pounds... get 3 jobs; they'd get 600 pounds! But who could live with that for a month given the crazy prices and the on the rise inflation!

So I look at them again and I sympathize with them... Sad, that these once good people have probably turned into criminals, willing-lessly! I try to say they had a choice... but I know I'm kidding myself!

And I try to help... but what would some money do... help them for a day... make them smile today... I try to help further... I try to be more supportive, try to bring about change! But I believe this system is what needs to change!

If I'm depressed and tired of watching them run... how must they feel! Hopeless maybe. I'm sure they'd like to stop running for a while... catch their breath... take a break! At least for a while... so they gain the strength to run again... until maybe one day the stop running, and hopefully that won't mean they're dead... but rather living with dignity! The way "humans" should...

This post was inspired by seeing an Egyptian man run an entire street in hopes of catching the bus and he didn't... and a movie I just saw (Sa3a wa Nos)...

What Tomorrow Holds...

We all wonder what the future holds for us... it's only natural! However, when you really think about it, you realize that we live a huge challenge everyday. We wake up and go on with our lives not knowing what tomorrow holds for us. Not just that! We don't know how the next minute could change our lives. What might happen; who might run into; or even simply what we might say and how much it could change our lives.

I think it takes a lot out of us to trust life and to give in to the fact that we make plans, or what we think are plans and go on from day to day. Although in a spur of a second... something, outta the blue, can come up and change all you thought you knew or all you expected out of life!

And don't get me wrong... the fear of tomorrow because of the uncertainty it carries may not necessarily mean that we're up for drama and or a terrible, sad twist in our lives. It should be something good, and exciting.

But the point is, we go to sleep everyday knowing that tomorrow carries for us the unexpected, with its good and bad, is a challenge. A big one! The fact that we get into our cars and drive, not knowing if we'll end up where we intended to... is freaky. The idea, that you might run into a stranger and he could be your soul mate is difficult to grasp.

We take the fact that there is a tomorrow lightly... very lightly in fact. I'm not trying to be dramatic, I'm trying to say that what we have is today... and that is what should count... making the best out of every minute it of it... in hopes that the actions, thoughts and words we say today will help us have a better tomorrow. But in the end of the day the only truth that lies ahead of us, the only thing we're certain of in the midst of this uncertainty .. is that we really don't know what tomorrow holds.