RED, WHITE, & BLACK Every nation’s flag is designed to symbolize specific meanings. Shapes and colors are picked for a reason, and that includes even the Egyptian flag. Nobody really knows what the colors to Egypt’s flag are supposed to symbolize. Fortunately though, I’ve been put in a number of situations that have made clear to me the meaning depicted by each color.
RED: ROUTINE So I wanted to pay my faculty its tuition fees. I headed over to the Students’ Affairs office and got my “permit to pay”, which included both faculty fees and book fees. Back home it turns out my brother coincidently already has copies of the books I was supposed to get, so the next day, I head over to the Students’ Affairs office again, and ask for a “permit to pay” for faculty fees only, excluding book fees since I didn’t want ‘em anymore. I’m told I’d have to get permission for that in writing from some dude who was in charge of administration thingies. So I walk myself to administration dude’s office… only to find his bag, his coffee, but no one there. Next day, I stop by his office again, and find his bag, his coffee… but no one there. The day after, same story. For two continuous weeks, I find the dude’s bag and coffee in his office doing his paperwork for him! I say “screw it”, and tear the original “permit to pay” I got into two halves; one half indicating required faculty fees and the other indicating book fees, and head on over to the university safe. I give them the half indicating required faculty fees, and they accept it! I pay the fees, get my receipt, and go home. Turned out I never needed written permission from administration dude in the first place! But I guess it’s stated somewhere in the faculty’s policy that pissing students off and wasting their time is required at all times. And notice that it was them who wanted money from me. Wanna know what I have to go through when I’m the one who needs something?
WHITE: SLACK At the age of 16, kids are required to get their personal ID’s. No big deal, right? Yeah, I thought so too. I remember heading over to the police station and going to the “ID office” where they give you the forms to fill. I fill ’em, give them to the guy at the desk who tells me to come pick up my ID in a couple week’s time. Two weeks pass, I stop by, desk guy looks through ID’s in his drawer and tells me mine isn’t ready yet, and to come the following day. I do, ID’s still not ready. Day after, ID’s not ready. Day after, not ready. Thirty day’s later, not ready. “What the fart?!” I automatically conclude he wants a bribe to save me the hassle of going through the procedures of acquiring my “blood type evidence.” Luckily though, my dad, who was an air force general at the time, was waiting in the car… in uniform. He marched into the office to check out what took me so long. I tell him “dad, this man here tells me my ID card isn’t ready yet because he forgot to tell me to attach my blood type evidence to the forms I filled over a month ago.” My dad gives the man a blank look. And the man gives him this reply “I’ll have the ID put together in less than a minute, sir!” Now what if my dad was a poor farmer or something?
BLACK: POWER I’m at the faculty solving a 180-minute long exam. Only 15 minutes left before time is up, and I’ve got a full essay question to answer. Good thing I know the answer at least. But all of a sudden, a hand snatches my answer sheets and wiggles it around. It’s one of the watch dogs who look over us throughout the exam. I tell him “Hey, I’m not done yet!” He says “Yeah, I’m just checkin’ to see if you’re hiding anything.” Of course, he finds nothing and gives me back my sheets, but tells me “Hey, what’s that piece of paper on the ground?” I look to the ground which is literally a pile of garbage and ask “Which one? That big one?” “No, that little one right there” he replies. I pick up the clumsily folded little piece of paper (a “birshama” obviously) and give it to him, then continue to answer that last essay question I need to finish without interruption. He examines the little piece of paper and asks “This not yours?” “Nope” I confidently reply. “Y’sure?” he stresses. “Yes” I stress. He then snatches my answer sheets and staples the “birshama” to it! I tell him it’s not mine, I tell him it’s probably related to some other course, I tell him to have it properly examined first, but he just outright ignores me. I end up complaining to people of higher positions, who also ignore me, and several days later, I manage to take the situation to the dean, who also pretty much ignores me. All the answers I’d get would look like this: “You’ll be questioned at the Legal Affairs office, tell your side of the story, and they’ll look into the matter. If the birshama really isn’t yours, it’ll be proved that it really isn’t yours.” They all failed to understand that the birshama wasn’t supposed to be stapled to my answer sheets to begin with. Not to mention that it was actually illegal of the guy to staple a birshama if not found in my possession! Why did it all happen? Because some watch dog wanted to experience the power of barking? Anyhow, at the Legal Affairs office, I’m showed the birshama, which ends up containing equations from a course the freshmen study, not at all related to my exam. My innocence was proved, sure, but what about that essay question I wasn’t able to finish?! Multiply the same apathy attributed to the three above situations by an entire nation, and you get the system governing the everyday life of common Egyptians. We all experience needless routine and useless red tape prevailing government institutions. Employees are known to be slackers and expect us to pay them fees to do the jobs they’re already paid to do. It’s understandable they’re not properly paid by the government, but that doesn’t mean bribery is the correct solution! And misuse of power is common almost everywhere. I used to know a cop who tended to get his way in anything he wanted by simply flashing his gun. The system governing us is soaked in corruption, we all know it and we all hate it, but we’re doing nothing to change it. Some people think it can’t be changed, some people save themselves the trouble and head for other countries, whilst others think it’s xenophobic and unpatriotic to complain about one’s nation. We’ve reached the point where we’ve come to ignore the deficiencies in our system to become more concerned with issues fed to us by the media. We fail to understand that we’re doing nothing but supporting the very system we despise when we have the power to make things right. This is our country and we have the right to make of it what we see fit. And no, it isn’t xenophobic or unpatriotic to at least let your opinion be heard. Were the French revolutionists labeled as unpatriotic when they slaughtered the entire class of ruthless noblemen and took control of the government to transform the country into a true home for the people? That just proves to tell you that governments and countries are two different things. I dunno about you, but me… I really love my country. |