How To Change the World

Happy new year dear readers. And yes I am back, but this time with a slightly different oulook on things. Politics has drained me.

In fact, talks of politics and religion have drained a whole country. All Egyptians suffer now. I walk down the street and I can sense the change--that twinkle, that glimmer of hope that we witnessed all across Egypt after the Uprising of 2011 is now, officially, extinct. 

Religious extremism, poverty, and corruption existed back in 2011, as they do now. But what had changed since the early days of the revolution was people's heartfelt belief that a change is possible. The hope in people's hearts gave them resilience and it empowered them. Everyone believed that what they do matters, and that they have the power to change their world. 

The fanatics are like the angry mob in the illustration, yelling "$KULL&BONES!#$&@." 

Don't fear them. 

They are puppets. Their insecurities pull their strings. 

Don't shout back at them. You can't win at the game of ugliness. Instead, show them love. Show them happiness. Show them fullfillment. Show them gratitude. Show them all the things they miss out on by being who they are. And slowly, one by one, you will convert them. 

Stand in the Face of Fanatics and Change the World One Heart at a Time

You may be skeptical but have faith, I have witnessed such "conversions" myself. Inside every human being is the need for connection, and the yearning for transcendence. They may not show it--or know it for that matter--but it is there. 

Just lead and show them the way. This is how to change the world, by touching one heart at a time. 

P.S Thank you  Robin Möller  my colleague in the RMT institute for sharing this inspiring comic strip. 

P.S. I tracked down the artist behind this brilliant comic strip, it's Nathaneal Lark. You could catch more of his artwork at NLarkArt

Freedom: A New F-Word ?

Article first Published on BikyaMasr


I'll let you in on a little secret. When I was a dreamy teenaged my parents --especially my dad-- itched when they heard the word Freedom. 


And I believe that most, if not all, Egyptian and Middle Eastern parents still shudder in fear when they here their young one speaking of their demands for Freedom.


"FREEEEEE???? What do you meant you want to be FREEEE?" A parent from our culture always says. 


"Do you want to be homosexual? Do you want to have sex? To do drugs?? Istaghfaro 'llah *asking God for forgiveness*" The parent usually breaks down into tears at this point. "What have I done to deserve such a child? God help me! Why can't you be more like me at your age huh?"


One said parent might've even had a normal adolescence with mistakes that they hate to admit. And if you were ever to confront them they'd say: "well, I want to you to be better than me. I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did." 


The examples are many. But one very common and almost ubiquitous example is the hijabi and/or Niqabi mama who forces the islamic dress on her daughter. 


The mother who, in her day, wore whatever she pleased and dated the guy she eventually married asks her daughter to "cover it all" and abstain from even talking to boys. 


"My parents were not very religious so they didn't teach me right from wrong. But I'll be DAMNED if I watch you be promiscuous!" This, naturally, reads "Do whatever you want as long you're sneaky enough to fool me."


To most of the 'older' generations, Freedom is promiscuity and promiscuity is the root of all evil. 


And the pseudo-liberals we have roaming round in the land of the Nile have a curious way of fighting for Freedom. They offer up assurances that when granted our freedom, we will be good boys and gals and use it properly and respect the social norms and rules and what have you. 
HA!
Freedom, people, is the right to be FREE. To choose your way and find that spark in your soul that's worth living for.


Those who deny us our Freedom do nothing, other than frustrate. Because whether they like it or not, or want to admit or not, we ARE free. Each and every one of us is free to wake up and go rob a bank, or kill our neighbor, or chop our ex in tiny morsels. But we don't because we CHOOSE not to, because we accept moral responsibility and cherish righteousness, at least most of the time. 


And this is precisely why we, as opposed to animals, are responsible for our acts before God. God gave Adam and Eve Freedom the moment he gave them Free Will. He told them not to eat the Forbidden Fruit but left the tree right there in front of them. Their test, as is ours, is fighting temptation. 


So dear Salafi Wahabis or whatever you can call yourself today, please remember that, in the words of William Wallace (aka. Braveheart), you can take away our lives, but you can't take away our freedom!

Appropriate, inappropriate, or just downright crazy: how freedom of expression can change the world

Deciding whether you want your virtual persona to be appropriate, or to let it be a representation of the wilder side of you is a tough decision.

Keeping on the safe side of things is, well, safe but certainly not rewarding. It is not that expressing yourself freely gives you an adrenaline rush, or that bordering on the risqué in and of itself puts you under the spotlight. The problem is that all creative, innovative, ideas are at first 'crazy'. If you do not let your ideas roam freely, you can never change your reality, solve your problems, or --if you are an idealist visionary --change the world.

Somehow, 'inappropriate' and 'out-there' ideas become automatically equated with the profane. People vigilantly censor themselves lest they break a cultural taboo. But sadly, in doing so they lock their potential away; and live as mindless followers in a pitiful herd.

When I say 'wilder side', I am not referring to taking your shirt off for a stranger in front of a webcam! I am referring to these thoughts that come to mind and you just brush them off because they are 'unconventional', or maybe you file them under the 'never going to happen' tab.

So before you censor yourself, trust it. Trust that you are genuinely good and that you have genuinely good ideas. Don't believe what the pessimists say. We humans are not dirty nasty creatures operating on basic instincts--our Cerebral cortex does, sometimes, take the upper hand!

You might change yourself, your community, or even your world if you just let yourself truly BE.