Is there more to it?

When the first picture was projected I saw frozen people on top of a mountain. I didn’t know there was more of it until someone pointed it out to me.  But in the second picture I saw both illusions the old man’s and the musician’s playing the guitar with a lady by his side.

I think that the pictures projected were important because it gives us time to reflect and think about “what lies inside these pictures!”   “Is there more to these pictures that we don’t really see?”   In our daily life especially in this present  generation we judge a book by its cover,  we don’t take time to evaluate our ways of thinking.  We give every single thing tags that affect  reputations and as a result the problem gets to the point of no return and tags get stuck period.

Metacognition is something our Egyptian society is missing. Even with the elections going on,  no one stops and thinks  about  their deciscions side-effects  or whether they are going in the right path.  We have over  10 candidates for our presidential elections but do the people really know enough information about any of them?  Or are they just voting because lots of them have promises for a better future and a more promising country ?.  We definitely know that most candidates are luring us just to vote for them.

In my perspective I think there are innumerable things we cannot see with our own eyes. Maybe that’s why we appraise people by looks. Who knows maybe the ugliest person has an amiable personality and the prettiest of them all has a frivolous, infamous,  self-centered  personality. No one will ever know what’s really inside the pie until we get the chance to dig into it and by that I mean to better and truly see not only the outside but the inside as well. What lies behind  people’s masks  could be only seen by the eyes of the beholder and that’s what keeps them  going on with their plays.  We all have one, that’s what helps us hide how we sometimes really feel and occasionally who we really are. But who doesn’t want to fit in this society who rejects so much these days? But life shouldn’t be that way. People shouldn’t change themselves for others. Everyone’s unique, beautiful and worthy of love and acceptance that’s why being yourself shouldn’t be a problem. It’s a must. Yes, despite the fact that our candidates are from different political parties they are all different but one thing they all have in common is that they want a better Egypt. I think that we should stop with the harsh criticism and censure because honestly, who dug deep enough to judge anyone of them?

The seed is one of the smallest things on earth. But the miracle that comes out from it makes the whole world think of it as something prodigious. Two can have different point of views and perspectives. One can say that it’s a useless seed with nothing to give and it should be thrown right away. But the other might take time to contemplate and see how amazing this useless creature turns out to be.

We shouldn’t belittle anyone and we should give every candidate a chance of showing who they really are. We Egyptian have to think out of the box and in different perspectives without letting religion, history, experiences, social classes… get in the way of who we choose as our upcoming president. We never know maybe the one with the least expectations turns out to be what we’ve been looking for all these years.  We have to expect and accept the unexpected and un accepted.

What you Want VS. what you Need

The difference between a want and a need is simple. In a dictionary the verb “Need” is defined as something you have to have. In contrary of the verb “Want” who means something you would like to have. I condone that a person can get along without a want, but a need is what’s necessary and must have to feel and be fulfilled. Since the creation of Human kind, man started searching for basic needs that could keep them alive like: « A shelter », « Enough food and water to maintain your health », «good health»… Want didn’t even exist at that time because it was already hard to get what they need.

In 2012 need and want have junctured the same meaning. It’s impossible for a 21 first century person to identify what they want from what they really need. In my offence we are not reprehensible of that because let’s remember the world isn’t a static place, with every sun rise we welcome something new. Since the advanced world of high technology and mind blowing electronics have been introduced in our lives in the past century nothing stays uniform. Who doesn’t want an Ipad4 or a blackberry or a flat screen TV or a Prada bad or Christian Louboutin’s latest shoe or any of these things? But let’s face it do we really need all that? It is not absolutely necessary, but it would be a good thing to have.

People should start considering that there’s a prodigious difference between want and need. It’s about time that we start being indifferent of what we own. Showing off won’t get us anywhere in our lives because life goes on and every single day something new shows up. Our needs have to come first. But this does not mean never reward yourself with something you want every once in a while.

Value it before you lose it.

I’ll never forget that hot summer day at my grandmother’s house when we had discords and couldn’t stop arguing all day long about my studies. It was the week before summer vacation, I refused to revise or even study a word because like any other fifth grader all I wanted to do is play around and watch T.V. My grandmother whom was the most intelligent person I have ever met used to help in my studies, she was a genius and she was the reason I got high grades since the day I became a student. Sitting in the balcony back then with hot sizzling sun tanning my face I couldn’t concentrate on anything and my grandmother insisted on revising once again the conjugation of the irregular verbs. Suddenly I stopped her and told her I can’t take it anymore and started crying, here we go again another prodigious fight for nothing and it was at that moment when she told me a proverb that I hated since the day I heard it “You Don't Know What You've Got, Until You Lose It”. Honestly I nullified the true meaning of what she said and didn’t even know what she talking about. This eccentric sentence didn’t cross my mind until next year when I was all alone sitting in my room trying to study for the first time all by myself. I was appalled when I remembered what she told me year ago, that proverb was now running in my mind and impossible to get out because it was true and it will always be true no one can ever know the value of what they have until its gone or they can’t have.   

It runs in human blood and passed out through generation, moaning about what we haven’t got is like a daily routine. We are all guilty of just accepting things and not truly appreciating them, because we assume that they will always be there. The thing is that there are always things in our lives that we usually just take for granted. It’s because they have always been there, we just accept their presence, but do not really place any value on them. But what we neglect is that in a blink of eye everything can change and all these big things that we think are forever ours can disappear in seconds.  

Every day, every single one of us finds something that opens his eyes to realize what they’ve been waiting for or wanting has been here the whole time. It can be presented through innumerable stuff starting with kids who sleep in streets, suffering families, solders who risk their lives and leave their beloved one behind, orphans, famine and more. The point is that we will never stop our ongoing process of demanding and wanting everything or what others have. But what we should all do once a while is stop and reflect about the simples thing we have others don’t. Like for example HEALTH, ever thought that there are people who are born and raised up with diseases? So remember, you don't know what you've got, until you lose it.

Is Disobedience and Violence the true foundation of liberty?

Civil disobedience is the public act of willfully disobeying the law and the commands of an authority figure, to make a political statement. Participants are in risk of getting arrested, and are frequently charged with crimes such failure to disperse, or failure to obey an officer. Civil disobedience is generally nonviolent.
The purpose of civil disobedience is to convey a political message; their goal is to bring changes in the law. Nowadays, civil disobedience has been used in such events as street demonstrations, marches, and strikes... Also, sometimes the law gets broken and they start protesting, it sends the message to authority figures that people consider the law so unjust, they are willing to openly disobey it. Martin Luther King, M.Gandhi and Henry David Thoreau are famous advocates of civil disobedience.

The Civil Disobedience Movement was first led by Gandhi; in the year 1930. He started it because he wanted public opinions to be heard but in a nonviolent civil way. It is considered as a very important milestone in the history of Indian Nationalism. There are three distinct phases that mark the development of Indian Nationalism.  One of those phases was the rise of as M.Gandhi, to power as the leader of Indian National Movements. He was amiable by all the citizens because of his spirited guidance and wise decisions. 

Martin Luther King just like Gandhi was a leader in his community and believed that civil disobedience was the way to change the laws and feeling that where against the colored people in southern states of America. He had a dream and believed that the only way to get his point across is by taking action but the actions had to be in a non-violent way and without any violent juncture or physical force. He said that the movement must prove the wrong that has been done to the black citizens and why are opposing something or someone. King justified his act of civil disobedience by show that there was a lot of hatred towards the Negroes by the country police and court systems.

Both Martin Luther King and Gandhi started the civil disobedience movement because they saw people suffering, dying and living in misery because of the unjust prosecution of their country. They wanted to spread justice and put an end to the laws that where against their people as unjust because it affected them in all sorts of ways.  Both leaders felt that not everything that was legal was based on justice and that’s why they believed that civil disobedience is the way to make justice with an unjust legal law.

In my opinion I think that thanks to them now the world knows a non-violent way to oppose what they think is wrong. Civil disobedience in 2012 is the most common movement to oppose something in Arab countries…

The past few weeks I’ve been hearing a lot about this movement called civil disobedience that was going to be held on the 11^th of February 2012. I had to clue what was it was and to me it was totally insignificant maybe because I’m not interested in my countries politics and I belittle everything that has to do with the Egyptian revolution. But after doing some researches and reading amazing stories of leaders that were willing to sacrifice their souls to what they believed in made me want to participate myself in The Egyptian Civil Disobedience. I think that Civil disobedience is a very powerful tool but it must be used with thought, care and bravery to be effective. Of course every single Egyptian want the best for its beloved country that’s why for the past year we have been witnessing an ongoing process of protesting and strikes.  Of course Egypt is in need of the civil disobedience movement, but since I began writing my essay I couldn’t stop questioning myself: are the Egyptians capable of starting a none-violent movement? I don’t think so, Egyptians have tried peaceful ways to express their opinions but sadly it always ends up with blood of innocent ones scattered all around the streets… Why? Well because half of the Egyptians are uneducated, they don’t understand what the True meaning of CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IS. To conclude my essay I would like to point out two main points, first of all Egypt is not in need of more strikes, protests and revolutions it is certainly in need of AN EVOLUTION so I think that Egyptian Civil disobedience will only make any difference cut it will make us drowned deeper and deeper. Second of all the term civil disobedience starts with a very important adjective “Civil”, Do you think that in 2012 Egyptian citizens are acting in a civil way? I don’t think so, how can uncivil people starts a movement they don’t even understand and proclaim it for the best of their country?

  

Ghandi Quote:

“Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state has become lawless or corrupt. And a citizen who barters with such a state shares in its corruption and lawlessness...Every citizen is responsible for every act of his government...There is only one sovereign remedy, namely, non-violent non-cooperation.  Whether we advertise the fact or not, the moment we cease to support the government it dies a nature death....My method is conversion, not coercion, it is self-suffering, not the suffering of the tyrant....I hope the real Swaraj (self-rule) will come not by the acquisition of authority by the few but by the acquisition by all of the courage to resist authority when abused.  In other words, Swaraj is to be attained by education the masses to a sense of their capacity to regulate ad control authority.... Civil disobedience is the assertion of a right which law should give but which it denies...Civil disobedience presupposes willing obedience of our self-imposed rules, and without it civil disobedience would be cruel joke....Civil disobedience means capacity for unlimited suffering without the intoxicating excitement of killing....Disobedience to be civil has to be open and nonviolent....Disobedience to be civil implies discipline, thought, care, attention...Disobedience that is wholly civil should never provoke retaliation....Non-cooperation and civil disobedience are different but [are] branches of the same tree call Satyagraha (truth-force).... Coercion cannot but result in chaos in the end....One who uses coercion is guilty of deliberate violence. Coercion is inhuman....Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as cooperation with good... Nonviolent action without the cooperation of the heart and the head cannot produce the intended result....All through history the way of truth and love has always won.  There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall, always.”

Friends will carry you where money won't go.

Friendship has a prodigious value in the meaning of life. It is one of the richest treasures you can ever have. Friendship helps you overcome challenges and difficult times in your life, through talking, listening and just by knowing you have a friend that will be there when in need facilitates all the pain and sorrows anyone can ever face. For me friends are like accessories. There are good ones, bad ones, pretty ones, ugly ones, real ones, fake ones, big ones, small ones, cheap ones, awesome ones, ones that break apart, and ones that last forever. Friends come into your life through many ways, sometimes you find them sometimes they find you, but in the end they just happen to fall upon your path.

The most important thing about friendship is that it adds meaning and value to our lives, some people might belittle it and proclaim it unnecessary and say it has no survival value; but they are dead wrong in fact it is one of those things that give value to survival.

There are innumerable qualities that make a true friend last forever, but to me HONESTY is the most important quality to look for in a friend. If you have honesty it will bring many other great qualities along with it. Honesty is the foundation and the key of a good friendship. Without honesty the friendship would fall apart.  But that’s not only it.  TRUST, is another very important quality that I look for in a friend. In friendship you should be able to trust one other, weather it comes to keeping secrets or promises. When your world come crashing down, when you fall and hit the ground, all you need is somebody to lean on and talk with about anything. You should be able to trust your friends and depend on them to be forever next to you just the way you are. Also part of qualities of a good friend is having someone who is fun, amiable, interesting, attentive, supportive, is a giver more than a taker, accepts you for you and is always here in good and bad to make you rise higher than the moon and stars.

Also a friend with good qualities will know you well and will care about you, and everything they’re doing is done by love and blessings. When you are not strong they’ll help you carry on even if it means sitting with you in the hospital for days and nights; be with you while you grieve, be available at a moments notice of crisis, come out to help in the middle of the night, stand up for you in front of the whole world, lend a hand when there is work to be done, be loyal to you, make you laugh when you are sad.  And the best part is not only that they have the words to turn that frown upside down but they also have the arms to give hugs, ears to listen to whatever you want to talk about even if it’s the same old drama all over again, but also they have the heart that is always aching to see you smile again.

I believe that my friends make me who I am, and I know that despite our fights, discords, and misunderstandings they are one of the best things that’s ever been mine. You can travel the world and still you will never find big hearts and good qualities like theirs. They mean the world to me. They make me laugh, make me cry and there even comes a time when I want to punch one by one in the face. You might think I’m joking but truly great friends that will always be by your side are the ones that help you eat the whole jar of icing or ice-cream because your “one true love” dumped you or you just got heartbroken. My friends are the people that make me smile every day just by thinking of them and they are not one in a million, THEY ARE ONCE A LIFETIME  

More than a parent to me.

Life is a box of surprises. You never know what is going to happen or where you are going to end up. Everything can change in seconds just like when a tornado destroys a city in the blink of an eye. That’s what my role model taught me since I was young and started facing problems.  She told me that wherever I go I will find people who will please me, people who won’t get along with me, people whom I will truly dislike, the point is that this is LIFE you just have to deal with it, make the best out of it and move on.

Before I had to pick who my role model was, I thought of things that I believed a role model should have: kindness, a good personality, goals, a good attitude, and strength. My mother has all of these qualities and much more. My mother is a super hero because of what she has done in her life and what she has accomplished. She’s diffinetly one of a kind. She’s a person who has the most impact in my life, and she is always doing whatever it takes to make me a better person. My mother has many good qualities and values, since the day I was born I always saw her as a strong woman, supportive, and not a quitter. My mom is the strongest person I never seen. She sacrificed a lot for me and my sister to make us happy and never in need of anything. I learned from her that if I worked hard, I will get what I want. She is a very sincere person; she never pretends to be someone she’s not, that’s what makes her loved by everyone around her and fun to be around. I consider her as my best friend. She is always there for me when I’m in danger or facing any sorts of problem that’s why I always go to her for advices.  

 My mother has shown me more kindness than I could have ever asked for. She has always been there for me and always puts others before her. Even if she’s married, has a husband, two kids and deals with house work and chores. With all of these responsibilities, she always manages to keep going with a smile on her face and she is always there if you need a hand in anything.  I look up to my mother because of her amazing personality. She has a great sense of humor, she's easy to talk to, and she is always there to listen.
She can go through a very bad day and still have a good attitude. She will never take her anger out on anyone and always has a positive point of view on everything around her.

I’m proud to have a mother like mine. And when I grow up, I want to become the women, wife and mother that she has been so that one day I will become as amazing as her.

SOS, SOPA+PIPA COMMING SOON!

Why are People everywhere  talking about the “SOPA and its Senate Counter Part PIPA “?  Both have ignited a widespread online protests to stop both agreements.  Agreements for a new soap, spices or soup or what are they talking about? And what is SOPA and PIPA and what kind of side effects if both agreements  get signed are they talking about?

In case you don’t have any information about any of both those bills “SOPA or PIPA” and before going any further into how this affects the everyday users,  let’s first get a good understanding  regarding both bills.  Of course, nobody, wants to see something they worked hard to create and of great quality to get disrespected by people gaining access and getting it for free.   

First of all lets introduce “SOPA” which stands for “Stop Online Piracy Act” and this is a bill that has been introduced to the US House of Representatives on October 26, 2011.  “PIPA” stands for the “ Protect IP ACT “  and was first introduced to the US senate on May 12, 2011.  PIPA if passed will give the US Corporations and the Government “the right to seek legal action with any website that they see as enabling copyright whether of US origin or not”.  SOPA if passed will work together with PIPA.

For years  the United States Government has been facing a huge amount  of pressure, mostly from the computer and entertainment software publishing companies. They wanted to find a way of stopping the online piracy that allows people to own copies, download , buy, sell, advertise and market  their products and merchandises for FREE. It is a fair and honest  agreement but I don’t honestly agree with both the SOPA and PIPA bills because the websites could be blocked and or shut down.  The internet will become a hunt for any little bit of possible copyright violation. If legal action will be taken these acts are going to stop developers like you and me from coming up with the next big thing in the online market that could change how we use the internet. If these acts were around back when the internet first started, how many of the most popular sites would still have come into our lives? There would be no “Facebook, YouTube, MediaFire, SoundCloud, Twitter, DropBox,” or any other site that could be targeted for piracy. I can not possibly think of how or what the internet would be like without sites like this?

The funny part is that not only are The U.S Government  concerned about how these bills will work out in America, they are hoping that they will have the influence to get other nations to follow them as well.  That means if these acts pass, then the next country coming to would be ours in Egypt. Another funny thing is that the Stop online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its senate counterpart, Protect IP act (PIPA), have ignited widespread online protests to the agreement by pirating themselves on the internet. SO how could they have done it if it weren’t for the free internet access?

 I think that sooner or later both bills will realize that stopping piracy act will harm this generation starting with THEMSELVES.