The Other Side of Me

When Frozen came to the big screen their was a huge fuss about it being the first Disney movie that doesn't teach young girls that's it's OK to "marry someone you've just met", as the lead characters have so clearly put it. They also say it's the first to portray a woman as a savior and focus on sisterly love rather than a prince charming. I do agree that Frozen is special and great, and a good shift in the Disney movies, but it's not one of a kind, or is it the first to portray a woman with a strong character, who is also a savior and not one to fall for a prince charming, just because, well, he's a prince and charming. Comparing Frozen to Cinderella, Snow White or Sleeping Beauty would actually make it seem as a breakthrough; although these movies have some nice teachings they have indeed ruined the idea of true love. Yet there is another movie that is underrated, that had teachings about true love that are even greater than those in Fro...

When I started working in Manshyet Nasser, one of Cairo's biggest slums, I thought I'd come back with stories of a different world. And although it was a world very different from mine only a few kilometers  away, this is not what I'm writing about. I'm not writing this to weep about how bad our slums are, or how unfair it is to have people living a life that is so poor to be even humane under the same government with people who live in villas, ride the best cars and have a couple of summer and winter homes. I'm not writing about this, although all of it is depressingly true. I'm writing about us, all of us, about the one thing we all share. In Mansheyet Nasser my job was to ask people about the problems they have, some of which lived in a room with five others, who are no just their children, but maybe even their in laws. A room that is used not just as a bedroom and a living room, but also a kitchen. A room that doesn't even have a bathroom. Ma...

There was a time when I used to hate the view of the injured and wounded on the television, then it became the norm. There was a time when I didn't look when I passed a person hit by car, but then seeing blood became the norm. There was a time when the view of corpses was unacceptable to me, then it became the norm.... I remember myself two years ago and I don't what has become out of me, a stronger person or one who has lost all sorts of compassion. In January and February 2011, just the talk about the revolution's martyrs brought me tears, heartbreak and sucked the breath out of me.  Then came October and November and December, then February and May, the numbers increased and the hurt decreased. I got used to people dying, to seeing injuries everywhere, to turning martyrs into numbers, just numbers. I have become inhumane, I want to see pictures of corpses when people die to make sure they're dead. When Osama Bin Laden was killed, I wanted to see his corpse, I was...

Yesterday a man jumped down to Earth from a height of more than 39 Km, and while he went up some have called him crazy and others thought of it as a game. But it's not only that he did this for research reasons that makes it a serious matter, what is even more important is that he pushed the limits of what the human body can do. What Felix, gymnasts, swimmers and Paralympians have in common is that they prove to us that there is always better than the best, that there is always more we can achieve, that our bodies do evolve and that every world record is actually breakable. This is what inspiration is all about, to do more than you're told you can do, to go where nobody else has ever been, to believe in yourself, to know that impossible is just another meaningless word. Yesterday Felix has been able to see a different view of the world, he saw with his own eyes that the world is not a flat land. He went out of of the world, out of his comfort zone, and only by doing this he w...

You get out of your comfort zone. You go against the flow, you think of things that you were told were facts of life. You fight for what you believe in, you fight even the people you love most. You break the walls, walls that you lock yourself up inside. You let your mind fly, to look for meaning. You set yourself free of protection, protection you set for yourself and that set for you by others. You feel light, a free soul, you get a taste of a truth... What is your comfort zone? A 9 to 5 job? A family that will always love you and support all you do? A lover that will make your life a fairytale? Never wondering why things are this way or that? Never questioning the meaning of things, of life? To build walls of a home that you feel so protected inside, and mental walls that limit your view to protect you from whatever is different, whatever is hard to accept or to even think of? But isn't this the perfect life that everyone wishes to have? If you have a good job, loving family and...

On what basis does one decide if a person is a believer or a non-believer? Why do you call someone a non-believer? What if they worship the same divine power you do but in there own different way? How does this make them a non-believer? That their practices are different from yours? What about the values? What if they have the same values but practice differently? Why would you call them non-believers? Why do we always look for differences and not commonalities? Why don't we look for the bigger meaning of religion? Why do we seek divisions rather than Unity? You have Muslim Sunnis and Muslim Shiites fighting all the time and some extremists even go to an extent of calling the other an infidel. It happened to me just because I am against hate speech against Shiites. Same goes for the Christian Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant. So it has become even a fight of creeds not just religions. Even worse, there are fights between Sunnis who follow different doctrines, same ...

In the previous post I've spoken about hatred of a religion that most of us know nothing about, you might think this as hatred and enmity towards the unknown and not just any other religion, so here's another story: When I was in high school, a new guy joined us in the spring semester. Just a few days after he came, the news that he is an Egyptian Jew started circulating everywhere, and his last name being a very Jewish name made every single student know about it. The boy came from one of the very very few Jewish families who decided not to migrate either to the so called Israel, or anywhere after 1948. For this they should be respected, but no, this did not happen. As soon as his fellow 15-year-old Egyptians knew that he was a Jew a huge shot of hatred was aimed at him. The boy was hit and insulted every single day in every class he entered and during every break. This has happened without him mentioning his views of Israel even once. He was discriminated agai...

When I was looking up the origin of دين I found a Google question with the answer about the Hieroglyphic origin (see previous post ). The rest of the answers were nothing but insults to the person who explained the Hieroglyphic meaning.People accused him of being too ignorant to even know the true origin, of spreading hatred, of being a lair, of not knowing anything about religion, almost of being an atheist and all that because he linked the Arabic word that means religion to a word of people who were polytheists (or so they think). They fought him with their words for an Arabic word that even carried zero religious meaning as if they were trying to save the pure word from the dirtiness of Ancient Egyptians. These people were unfortunately all Egyptians, and they probably use words from the language of our ancestors every single day, but since the world means religion, the hatred has to come out. Most of us carry a great deal of enmity and hatred to each other and most ...

At a time when religion is the greatest of all weapons, the main source of discrimination, the strongest type of brainwashing, the biggest excuse to oppress, at times like these one should go back to the origins. To try to understand the meaning of religion so you can fight its misuse. I'm not writing this post about Egypt, although it is inspired from what we have been witnessing from the Islamits for more than a year and a half of using what they call religion to manipulate people's minds. But the fact is that this has always happened through history and is still happening today all over the world. Does Burma ring any bells? Nigeria? Afghanistan? The idea that all Muslims are terrorists maybe? Israel? India/Pakistan? Burning American Embassies, killing the ambassador? The examples are endless. Going back to the basics could start by finding the origin of the word "religion" which has originated from re ligra, to re link or to re bind. To rebind with ...

Come my friend, I'll tell about my religion, I'll teach you about love. With me you'll discover a new world, you'll feel new feelings, you'll understand how it feels to fly. I'll take closer to divinity, I'll make you practice eternal love. I'll take you to a place where laws are affections, where you take action not because of a reward or a punishment, but because you're grateful for what you've been given and you want to give back. It's not hard to get there, all you need to do is make your duty out of love, all you need to know is that there is a God up there who truly loves you. That There's a God who has loved you before you were born and so has brought you to this world. A God who will love you after you die, and when the judgement day comes, he'll judge you with love and so will be merciful to you.  Love Him back, make His values yours, make His rules yours, make His love yours. Speak to Him of it, thank Him for teaching...

We go back in time more than 1400 years in a place not far from here. People who live there speak the same language we speak today, but that's about all we have in common. What were women back then but a sex toy? A disgrace. The sex toy would be ready to be played with once she gets her first period, let that be when she's 9 or when she's 12. No wait, how did I say that she was only a sex toy? When the toy is unlucky enough to find someone to play with her, she has to also turn into his servant; his maid, his cook, his foot masseuse maybe. Then what would sex bring but children if everything goes fine? And suddenly the 10 year old or 13 year old sex toy turns into a mother. At 10 or maybe 13 the child is to be raped, no don't tell me sex would be enjoyable for a 10 year old who has yet to discover her own body, oh wait, they never discovered their own bodies. I'll rephrase, don't tell me that sex would be enjoyable for a 10 year old whose body hasn't e...

Piano: Love Violin: Heaven Flute: Peace Guitar: Friendship Xylophone: Childhood Organ: Church weddings Harp: Connection to Ancient Egyptian ancestors عود: The beauty of sophistication دف: Sufi love قانون: Good traditions طبلة: Belly-dancers Drums: Fun

Why do people stop laughing when they grow up, Laughing until it hurts? Why do they stop dancing like crazy? Having slumber parties? Having pillow fights? Screaming for no reason? Throwing water at each other? Building sand castles on beaches? Watching cartoons? Jumping on beds? Drawing funny things? Singing so loud in the middle of the street? Wearing flowery clothes? Running, not for exercising? Eating sweets? Making bubbles with bubble gum? Forgetting the disappointment in less than a minute and having fun? Playing Music? Taking slides and swings? Eating lollipops? Loving balloons? Loving unconditionally? Having no enemies? Being pure? Living in peace? Making fun activities? Putting flowers in a girl's hair? Blowing bubbles in the shower? If this is what growing up is to you, then please, for your own good, grow back down.

Do you want to feel happy? Easy, make someone happy. Give a flower to a girl, she doesn't have to be your lover, just any friend or family. Give a chocolate to a child, even if you don't know them. Give a depressed person a hug, it will bring them peace. Tell a guy how good he is, speak of the goodness in him. Buy a gift to someone, and wrap it, it doesn't have to be big, just the effort would make a difference. Buy them a card, or make them a card, write something personalized in it. Making someone happy is not expensive at all, but it's priceless. Try every now and then to tell people of their importance in your life, to show gratitude. They'll probably reply with just a smile, but it's a timeless smile that will make you the happiest soul.

Our ancestors, the Ancient Egyptians, had a Pharaoh who was a tyrant, during his rule people were hungry and sick, they didn't do the work they fit for and were very unhappy (unlike how it was with other Pharaohs of his time). When his rule had finally ended, they've decided to give him the worst punishment there is. From that day on, Egyptians decided never to mention the name of the man again, they eliminated him from history, they made him lose his importance for decades or even centuries and it would have stayed this way if history wasn't changed tens of times for the worst of reasons. I will follow my ancestors' rules and won't mention the name of the Pharaoh... I'm bringing this up because someone here in Egypt decided to raise the issue of a hatred movie that was produced on YouTube by Egyptian migrants a few months ago. The movie and its link were spread very much over the web among the people whom the hatred was directed at, why now? For reasons that ...

Have you watched the Paralymics Closing Ceremony last night? If you haven't then I advise you to do (video below), this post is about why I want you to watch it... When a baby is born with a physical disability the family can either breakdown or accept, but then some families don't accept, they challenge. Some people are born with physical disabilities and we, "the healthy" see them as weak, as people we should feel sorry for. The truth is that they and their families are not, they're much stronger than us, than anyone else. They were created with a missing bone or muscle or whatever, and our Creator is just, and so they we're given something extra, they were given the determination that we all lack half of. Yes they have physical disabilities, but they have extraordinary abilities. We might have better bodies but we use them much less, we're never determined enough to defy the impossible, they are. They might be physically disabled, but for some of us i...

There many simple blessings that many of us share but never even think about, they're always taken for granted and thought of as things that have always been there and always will be. On my birthday, and only on my birthday (unfortunately) I remember these. Being alive Being healthy enough to talk, walk and smile Being able to sense, to see, smell, taste, hear and touch Having a roof over your head Having food in your fridge Having loved ones, either family or friends or both Having a mind that is ready to think Having a heart that is ready to love Being able to go to sleep without feeling worried about someone killing you, or soldiers bombing your home Being able to forget the bad memories and to remember the good ones Being able to change

It's my birthday and I have so much on my mind, I'm unable to think of something to write. All I know is that I'm happy, and I feel excited about my birthday. I don't want to sleep, just like a I felt when I was kid. Back then I had to count hundreds of sheep before I fell asleep and always woke up at 7 in the morning, because that's the time when I was born. I still feel the same today although I've grown and my birthday's significance has decreased, but it's still a celebration of memories and a day of feeling grateful because of all the simple blessings in life, like being alive. Today I'll share with you a happy old song about someone who was also unable to fall asleep =) I Could've Danced All Night -Julie Andrews, from My Fair Lady Lyrics: Eliza Bed! Bed! I couldn't go to bed! My head's too light to try to set it down! Sleep! Sleep! I couldn't sleep tonight. Not for all the jewels in the crown! I could have dance...

Some years ago, around this same time of the year, my mother knew she'll have a baby girl soon and she knew exactly what name she wanted to give her.... As soon as I was old enough to talk I have loved the sound of my name, but the more I've grown and understood who I was called after I knew how big of a gift my mother and father have given me. Today and everyday I celebrate being named after The Virgin, Mariam, Maria or Mary. I feel so lucky to be named after the definition of ladyhood, after the woman who let her belief bring her courage to stand strong in the face of a whole society that had every reason to believe she had committed adultery. To be named after the one who defined peacefulness and love for her son, her people and Joseph whom she had always loved. To be named after a teacher of motherhood, of pride and of power. My name is said to have so many meanings, but the closest to my heart is the "beloved of God" which is said to have originated from the ...

A few weeks ago I was walking in the street and an old man, old enough to be my grandfather, stopped for a moment to tell me that “clothes that show the shape of a woman's body take her to hell”. I'm veiled (and I'm not saying that to justify my clothes, if I had been wearing a low cut shirt and a mini skirt it would have still been wrong, in my opinion, for that man to say so or anything at all). The reason I'm saying that I'm veiled is to explain what he means by clothes that show the shape of a woman's body for those of you who don't know. My hair was covered, I was wearing a long sleeve shirt and pants. What that man didn't like is that he could make out to legs and two breasts, although completely covered, he still didn't want to see that they even existed! This is not why I'm writing this post, but I wanted to take this tiny space out of the subject of the post to point out how some people think of a woman's body. To this man, ...