Okay, so that title is a little cheesy. I couldn't help it.
At the Metro stop there is a beggar family. It's one woman, and at least 4 kids - two that walk and some babies (gender is impossible to tell). They sell little tissue packets. The woman sits and the little walkers approach people while holding out the tissue. Or they just hold out thier hand for donations. Sometimes I don't see the mother anywhere; a friend of mine thinks she might be a prostitute.
Anyway, I was coming out of the Metro the other day, and the little kid got right in front of me, holding the tissue. I kept my pace and ignored him/her. As I walked away, I felt a sort of guilt that quickly turned to sadness. I hate that I have to treat people as if they don't exist. I do it everyday with the beggars on the street, but plowing over this child made me incredibly sad that this little person will grow up thinking s/he's not worth anything. What are my choices? If I give them something, they will continually follow me about. I can't support them! Yet treating them as if they don't exist feels terrible. Perhaps I'll start carrying small change and give them a 1/2 pound every day.
A classmate and I were talking about the Egyptian's government and the policies they make. Egypt treats it's population like a liability. Granted, it's difficult to know what to do with 22+ million people. But what would happen if the government started viewing the people as an asset? I don't know what that would look like, but it has to be better than what is going on now.
The more I live here the more I realize what a paradox Egypt is.
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Cheesy title but apropos for the subject.
ReplyDeleteFirst comment is for such a gender-stratified society, it's odd that one can not tell if a kid is male or female. But that's an uninformed American's opinion... especially since I haven't been to Egypt.
And the Egyptian government is probably not alone among governments thinking its population is a liability. From their point of view it's something they have to deal with, so it would take on a negative connotation. It would probably take a superlative leader to bring about a paradigm shift...