By Amr Fouad
I rarely remember my dreams,
Hardly recall yesterday,
Unknown tomorrow, frothed among sea heaves,
On this earth forever I shan’t stay.
This scribbling of a poem I wrote six years ago at a creative writing course seemed to me at the time the peak of the pitch dark caves howling inside my head. The darkest ominous thoughts and worst nightmares seemed quite exaggerated and over the top till 1/01/2011; the year of the Ghoul.
As an Egyptian, New Year’s Eve now is forever tarnished in blood. The TV fireworks resounding from Sydney to Brazil, the countdown towards new expectations, the glimmering confetti and the flickering Santa’s funny hats at traffic jams, all have been snuffed out.
I am up to my ears in these useless dated clichés of “This is not Islam”, “This is not Christianity”. The ostrich-syndrome of “We are Brothers”, “Crescent with Cross”, “Egypt to all Egyptians”. The constant denial in “A hidden mischievous hand”, “The enemies of our country”. I am only interested in results, not the blameless state of every Egyptian affair.
The Bombing of Al-Qeddesine Church in Alexandria has deprived every Egyptian of the merry anticipations of every coming New Year: A dancing celebration, a secret wish or a silent prayer, a wild party; all are misting up into a eulogy.
Why can’t we focus on the common Egyptian things rather than creeds and ideologies? The movies and songs we smile and laugh at together, the football teams we cheer, the everyday problems we’re facing. We even share the noise, the pollution, and the jokes about Sheikhs and Priests. The Mum-Dad/Sister-Friend that we humans all have. I wish we Egyptians understand D.H. Lawrence’s “common pulse of humanity.”
When are we going to face up to the fact that any ideology is bounding; restrictive, and counter-productive? Why can’t we see how Galileo’s Inquisition had buried and delayed knowledge about our universe for years and that every ideology naturally creates anti-Bolsheviks, infidels, traitors, and anti-Christs? Did you know that people could have been anaesthetized centuries before the 19th Century, but it was a sin then to be insensitive to pain?
Take my religion out of my ID papers now —I don’t want to be anyone’s bull’s-eye — and write 1/01/2011 instead, reminding us Egyptians that humanity rather than ideology should always have the upper-hand from now on. I hereby announce that 1/01/2011 is the day that religion has become our common enemy.
The power of truth shall prevail and the eye-for-any-eye doctrine, as Gandhi wisely said, will make the whole world go blind.
Egyptians, believe in yourselves, your family, the unequivocal power of reason, for Goya’s “the sleep of reason produces monsters” words would kill us from within and make prowling Ghouls out of us all.
