I think we are all living in denial, Over the years we trained ourselves not to see whats really going on around us applying what can only be described as selective cognition, over the years we trained ourselves not to see the poverty that surrounds us, the derelict state our country is in. Filtering out all that and only seeing things that costs us nothing to hate (such as the internet speed, availability of parking spots...), This entry is about all these things we choose not to see.
Some luxuries can't be bought by even the richest Egyptians, little luxuries such as going for a walk in the street and knowing that you wont get harassed either sexually or by a never ending stream of beggars / street vendors, even if neither existed the state of the pavement makes it impossible for anyone to enjoy such a walk (do you even remember the last time you went for a walk?). Driving isn't much better, with the state our streets are in, the traffic and the fact that you get extorted every time you park your car, either pay or come back to find an interesting brand new scratch across the hood of your car. Every time you stop you have to fend off street merchants and beggars knocking on your window (which is always rolled up these days) with that look of despair in their eyes. The poverty, the despair can have a toll on anybody's psychological state...filtering out such things is a defense strategy used to avoid feeling how helpless you are towards helping any of them.
The best things in life are free, such as being able to take a long walk and actually enjoy it, or perhaps being able to enjoy sunset by the nile, or even just sitting down in a clean calm place and enjoy the serenity which is a God given right, or even being able to attend a decent Friday prayers sermon without feeling like leaving half way through, unfortunately none of this is available for us here in Egypt, even the pavements have been taken over by thugs who would only rent you the spot you are standing in or harass you till you can't take it any longer.
Quality is such an illusive word here in Egypt, no one seems to care enough to do whatever he is doing well. If you are in Egypt you'd better not get sick, cause if you do, even if you had all the money of the world there is no way for you to find proper medical care. Same applies to suffering from car issues or anything that'd require the least possible amount of skills.
I think it all comes down the government not being there and I'm not talking about the regime i'm talking about the services offered and regulated by governmental entities. No one cares to work since no one is accountable to what he does, the country stopped offering these services long ago. Signalling people to find other providers to replace them even if you have to pay twice for the same service (taxes) , services as simple as the phone directory (remember 140 daleel), I wrote an entry earlier about compounds and how people are moving into them only cause they lost any faith they had towards the city they are living in.
The reason that triggered me into writing this is how half the people living in my street decided to pave their part of the street by renting a loader and a paving crew, they have a point after all the street has been in such a bad street over the last 6 or 8 years, and it has progressively gotten worse over the last year, so they decided to do it themselves, the fun part is, after taking out all the asfalt from the street, and right before they started paving it, the paving crew left. Perhaps they haven't bribed the people in charge and hence they ordered them to stop, Life goes on.
Some luxuries can't be bought by even the richest Egyptians, little luxuries such as going for a walk in the street and knowing that you wont get harassed either sexually or by a never ending stream of beggars / street vendors, even if neither existed the state of the pavement makes it impossible for anyone to enjoy such a walk (do you even remember the last time you went for a walk?). Driving isn't much better, with the state our streets are in, the traffic and the fact that you get extorted every time you park your car, either pay or come back to find an interesting brand new scratch across the hood of your car. Every time you stop you have to fend off street merchants and beggars knocking on your window (which is always rolled up these days) with that look of despair in their eyes. The poverty, the despair can have a toll on anybody's psychological state...filtering out such things is a defense strategy used to avoid feeling how helpless you are towards helping any of them.
The best things in life are free, such as being able to take a long walk and actually enjoy it, or perhaps being able to enjoy sunset by the nile, or even just sitting down in a clean calm place and enjoy the serenity which is a God given right, or even being able to attend a decent Friday prayers sermon without feeling like leaving half way through, unfortunately none of this is available for us here in Egypt, even the pavements have been taken over by thugs who would only rent you the spot you are standing in or harass you till you can't take it any longer.
its all about the lack of the basic governmental infrastructure
Quality is such an illusive word here in Egypt, no one seems to care enough to do whatever he is doing well. If you are in Egypt you'd better not get sick, cause if you do, even if you had all the money of the world there is no way for you to find proper medical care. Same applies to suffering from car issues or anything that'd require the least possible amount of skills.
I think it all comes down the government not being there and I'm not talking about the regime i'm talking about the services offered and regulated by governmental entities. No one cares to work since no one is accountable to what he does, the country stopped offering these services long ago. Signalling people to find other providers to replace them even if you have to pay twice for the same service (taxes) , services as simple as the phone directory (remember 140 daleel), I wrote an entry earlier about compounds and how people are moving into them only cause they lost any faith they had towards the city they are living in.
Here is a dirty secret, you know channel 1 (Egyptian national TV), the one almost no one watches ? I think its operational costs are a lot more than any other private egyptian channel (most probably even these gulf run channels)
The reason that triggered me into writing this is how half the people living in my street decided to pave their part of the street by renting a loader and a paving crew, they have a point after all the street has been in such a bad street over the last 6 or 8 years, and it has progressively gotten worse over the last year, so they decided to do it themselves, the fun part is, after taking out all the asfalt from the street, and right before they started paving it, the paving crew left. Perhaps they haven't bribed the people in charge and hence they ordered them to stop, Life goes on.
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