Speaking of classes, i am learning about myself that i am quick to say stupid things aloud to a room full of graduate students. Then i take in what i just said while everyone just looks at me, not always in a bad way though. My favorite this week was "I'm not an airhead" and it came out sounding lie something a purebred blondie would say.
That's not the one I'm interested in telling you about though. The one I'm interested in telling you about is "Are you socialist or something?"
You see, i am taking this class on the role of government in a market-oriented economy. So naturally, the first day we were discussing what we all think the role of government is and what it should be. Not surprisingly, my outspoken Egyptian public university educated classmates all had the same opinion. The foreigners mostly stayed quiet.
The discussion lured mostly around how the crappy government is doing a crappy job and the crappy business owners are in control and are abusive of the majority of the poor-but-well-intentioned, hardworking, constantly exploited population. And that was the point at which i had my little outburst, telling my classmates i thought they were socialist. When we Egyptians criticize out own government, we tend to forget one very important thing: this government wakes up every single day with 80 million mouths to feed. If that doesn't draw some sympathy even to the most malign of guardians, i don't know what will. I am not defending our government, i am disapprovingly well aware of its corruption. All i am saying is that our constant complaining is not helping. This is a classic case of "if you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem."
We, educated, adults need be doing much more than sitting in some master's class badmouthing for the sake of complaining. I noticed a trend while listening to my classmates: no one gives reasons for why things are they they are, or what is needed to be done by whom to fix them.
At one point we were discussing medicine. One of my opposers threw at me the fact that the aspirin sold at pharmacies isn't as strong as aspirin sold at all other pharmacies over the world. I wanted to yell a him, "Ya think, idiot?!" In a country that still subsidizes terrible quality bread, the guy with a headache wants the bread, not the aspirin. Better and more food, a better transportation system, better curricula at public schools will all make the poor man's headache go away faster than any top-quality aspirin pill will.
What struck me most was that these complainers were raised to oppose and to complain. The tendency to point the finger at the other guy (in this case, the government or the private business owner) was so very strongly inhibited in their reactive mental capacities. It was all like, "this government is crap and it needs to be changed, not only changed but hanged and murdered and burned down because they do a crappy job and i will not help rather i will sit here and order the torture of this evil government then i will laugh as they burn down."
Whether we like it or not, we're all in this together. Personally, i don't like it. I am thankful each and every single day to be educated and to have access to more education and to have the reasoning to realize how i want to give to this country. At least, i will give by not barking at it. I refuse to blame the government fully. I will blame certain aspects of it to a certain extent, but it is not solely its fault that people can't get Panadol.
I am not saying that things are good as they are, things are horrible. But stop complaining you socialists. TRY being responsible for someone else's monthly income first, let alone try to BE the government, responsible for 80 daily food intakes. And when you can do a better job, complain all you want. But as long as you're comfortably sitting in a brand-new campus, being taught by some of the best professionals in the country, put a lid on your complaints.
Well said Mrs. F. However, I will point out that it is BECAUSE your classmates have been punished through the Egyptian public education system that they feel the strong urge to merely blame the government rather than be solution oriented. We have been lucky in the sense that our interaction with government entities has been limited to getting our national ID cards delivered to our door, paying someone to pass our driving licenses through and renewing our green passports. We have not had to haggle with archaic professors on public dole to pass a class we should have aced. We have not had to stand in line waiting for our oral exams only to hear that the committee has decided to break for the day. At the moment, I am very frustrated with a certain ministry because what should be a social priority (you know what I'm talking about) has been relegated and sidelined. Yes, the government has 80 million mouths to feed. That is no easy task to undertake. Then why does it limit itself to bureaucracy and corruption to function? Why does it not take a step back, restructure its ministries and inner workings and work towards a solution rather than maintaining a very delicate time bomb of a status quo? That is the point that your classmates should be making if they wish to question the government.
ReplyDelete