Watch out, hypocrisy ahead! [Archives:2007/1031/Community]
By: Salwa Yehia Al-Eryani
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No one can deny Yemeni life has changed significantly. I expect such changes will not end, even if we try to limit them. We should not panic since change is inevitable in all living and solid things. The point here is why classify change as a negative.
The other day, I was coming home from a friend's house and I passed a small shop only selling cigarettes, chewing gum and soap. On the white wall near the shop, I read the phrase, “Honesty available here.” I smiled and then I laughed. The seller meant that he sells honestly and that he is an honest man, but the phrase gave the impression they sold honesty to those who want to buy it.
The idea was worth smiling about. If honesty were a product like cigarettes or chewing gum, who would want to buy it in the first place? In our time, being honest simply means losing friends and those around you, especially your boss. It means losing a certain degree of dignity reached in your career. It means losing happiness and satisfaction while gaining neglect and enmity.
Being honest will cause many to criticize you and describe you as rude, crazy or a foolish philosopher who thinks he can change the world. Think of how many times you swallowed your honesty and instead smiled, lied, complimented, and even thanked. I would like to share some examples that came to mind:
1. A few months ago, everyone was discussing who would be Yemen's next president. Some knew the answer and some wondered, but all were discussing it. Yet the answer had been around for years, so what were the candidates doing and what were they promising? Based on the big “IF”, they were promising do such and such, to change this or that if they became president. The very possibility of all this was inconceivable so why were they even saying it in the first place?
Now imagine these candidates as honest. They would admit no one could be president other than the president himself. They would admit citizens would vote, but the result was already settled. Why would well-known thieves of our lands and public wealth say they would fight against corruption and theft in this country? How could they convince anyone they would work against their own profitable gains? It makes no sense. Why not be honest, admit their guilt and announce they are sorry for what they did. Announce they cannot bear it any longer. What would happen?
Those on the receiving end of this cannot fight corruption either. The first group cannot fight against it because no one fights against their own advantage, and the second group cannot fight it because they are too hungry to take any action. You have to admit, revolutions and demonstrations, even football matches, require full stomachs. It is that simple!
2. One day, as I was coming home from a birthday party with my kids, wearing masks on their faces and hats on their heads, we stopped at a red traffic light. By us, a young girl about 11 years old was covering her face with a heavy white scarf. By the weight of it I doubted was could breathe well under it. She knocked on my car window, but I did not look at her. I had not taken any money with me in my bag to give her. She knocked on the window again, so I looked at her as she nervously motioned for me to open the window, which I did. She held in front of my eyes a small box of medals and said, “Buy one”. I replied, “No, thank you”.
Without any hesitation, she exploded, yelling, “Why won't you buy one? People tell us not to beg, but when we collect money and buy something to sell, people refuse to buy!” She then naturally lost her temper, threw the whole box of medals up in the air, and shouted, “Off!” which made all of the passengers in the cars surrounding us look at us. I was embarrassed. She moved away, the traffic light turned green and all the cars moved forward.
I thought about her with deep sympathy in my heart. She definitely had thought, “These happy people have expensive cars, some the price of a house. Their kids play and eat cake, yet they do not give us one riyal! How cruel!” Honestly, no one can blame her.
If this angry, hungry girl were honest, would she say to those inside brand new cars, “Why won't you help me? It is not your money but the money of the Yemeni people?” These thieves, who sometimes receive such cars as a gift, pay nothing for them. A signature will do!
How could anyone blame this girl if she chose to go in a car with a stranger? She does not want to sell her body and she does not want to see the car from inside; but she needs to eat – nothing more and nothing less.
3. At a wedding last summer, a young boy entered the wedding hall clutching in his hand small strips of paper, which he handed out to our row of women. We read them. It explained his father was a truck driver who lost his leg in a car accident and his mother was sick. It mentioned he had six brothers and sisters, and was the oldest earning a living.
The boy looked clean but very humble and it was clear that his father had been a truck driver only a few months earlier. An accident changes life from acceptable to hellish. We all gave him what we could and he took his strips of paper again and turned to move away. One of the attending women, well known for her wealth and authority, called to him loudly, so he returned and stood in front of her.
She began searching for money in several bags: one was for her Qat; one was for her veil, scarf and coat; one smaller bag was for her mobile; a long shaped bag was for each of her shoes, with the shoe bag divided into two spaces, and one bag was empty, as I guessed, was her head. Those bags were gems.
Because her search took a long time, the boy was embarrassed and started to get extremely shy. In my opinion, keeping him waiting for such a long time was an insult. We were all examining him from head to toe and his eyelashes fluttered nervously.
Although it was not me awaiting money from this woman, I felt just as bad. What is she looking for all this time? (It took her about half an hour.) Why does not she let him go? Is she going to give him $100 or recommend him to a job, earning a monthly salary? Poor child was already squeezing his wet strips of paper.
I could not stand him standing there any longer. I was about to ask him to leave, when she asked him loudly, “Do you have YR 500?” He nodded and gave her the YR 500 he had collected from all of us. In return, she gives him a YR 1,000 bill! All that traffic jam for YR 500?!
I remember for just a second our expressions of surprise and disappointment on our faces. I mean, why not give him the whole YR 1,000? It was not even the price of her daily Qat, which she spits out every day. I am sure it definitely was not the price of her pair of shoes, or even one shoe. How did she have the heart to take YR 500 back from him, a beggar?
After a few minutes, we snap out of our shock, and as usual, the women begin practicing their hypocrisy, smiling at her and telling her that Allah will reward her. Some told her she was kind-hearted, which no one is nowadays. I watched them. How dare they say those things? How dare they convince her of what she had done, was perfect?! This is the reality of women in Yemen! I would like to tell them the woman who took back YR 500 from a beggar, would give you nothing but promises in return!
4. Another Yemeni worth mentioning is the one that says they do not do what they actually do. Those who have fantastic villas with gardens and swimming pools complain they have taken absolutely nothing for their years of service to country and government. They are ones travelling several times a year to Europe or Asia.
These individuals better known for their modern cars, mobiles and plasma TV. Their children own the laptops, iPods, Mp3 players, motorized cars and such. Nevertheless, they will tell you they have taken nothing for their years of service and sacrifice in pursuit of the Yemeni good!
They are the ones with long sermons on patience. Sermons on the need to control one's desires according to the urgency. Yet they go crazy if they have a bad flu and are not sent, at the government's expense, to the Mayo Clinic!
These people also burst at the seams when their darling, eldest son finishes high school. After what they have spent, if they do not see their son on a government scholarship to a U.S. university, they will have a stroke and charge both education and medical expenses!
Let us not forget those who build these tremendously imaginative mosques named after them, always talking of a simple life and praying under shaded trees just as in the Prophet Mohammed's time! I mean, come on, what is this?
All I know is in this country the phrase should be, “Honesty does not live here!”
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