Vote You Lazy Fools

My fellow Canadians, you make me sick.
We've got another federal election coming and what I've been hearing is how sick we are of elections and how few people are going to bother voting.
How dare you?
People in Middle Eastern countries are protesting and dying for changes in their governments. We get one handed to us and we can't be bothered to care.
I spoke to many Egyptian people while Mike and I were stranded there during the protests.
Do you know what they wanted initially?
Fair elections.
They were willing to let Hosni Mubarak stay in office until the next scheduled election in September if only he would promise to step down and to not rig the outcome.
Such as simple request. After 30 years all they wanted was the chance of a fair election where their vote actually meant something.

Egyptian protesters after being tear gassed.

It wasn't later that they decided they'd had enough and wanted his ouster. I suspect the only reason he stayed as long as he did after the protests began was he needed the time to salt away the bilions of dollars he'd stolen over the years.
Meanwhile, we have an election about nothing that despite all his protests I am sure Stephen Harper did some slick back room engineering to get.
We have a chance to have our voices heard in an election that,while engineered, will not be rigged.
We should be grateful for this opportunity, not bored and apathetic.
All of you who can't be bothered to vote --as is your right in this country-- need a refresher course in what living in a democracy means.
Maybe you should get out more. See the world. Spend a few days stuck in a police state during political upheaval. Maybe then you'll appreciate what you've got.

Start 'Em Young

A young boy attempts to sell postcards to a disinterested tourist.

We were accosted by sellers everywhere we went during our visit to Egypt. They always had just the thing we needed to make our lives complete.
There was a certain amount of regulation in place.  Near the souk in Cairo a young fellow, similar in age to the one in the above photo, tried to sell us scarab carvings.  In a few minutes the police had him in a headlock. Our guide told us the boy was selling without a licence.
For the most part the hawkers went about their business on everyone they could find. We were advised to not make eye contact. If asked a name we should make one up. Do not follow a seller in a market into a store.
I broke all of those rules at one time or another, but I have pretty good sales resistance and I enjoy saying no.
One evening a woman near tears with a babe in arms pleaded with me as I tried to get on the bus.  While I didn't understand her words, I am sure she was pulling the "My baby is sick and needs medicine" or "I need money to feed my baby" scam.  I saw it many times in Cuba.
Our guide seemed surprised that this happened, but he agreed it probably was one of these scams.
I couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for these hawkers, especially the young ones. Education is free in Egypt. If you get really high marks your post-secondary is paid for as well.
But not everyone can get high marks. Maybe this is all they thought life could offer them.
I like to think that with ouster of Mubarak things will have changed for the better on every level. The dependence on tourists will be for legitimate sales, not desperation.

Morning in Egypt

Sunrise on the Nile

 

 

It's morning in Egypt.
Congratulations to Egyptians for not backing down and for toppling Hosni Mubarak.
I'm so proud of you, and so deeply touched that I was there and saw the protests for myself.
Thank you.