If a person (and the Brotherhood is made up of individuals remember not an identity-less group) – if a person does not have integrity in his word he has nothing, nothing, nothing. You can work with, live with and do business with anyone – even a thief, but you cannot deal with a liar simply because you never know where you stand with him. You can deal with a thief once you recognise him because you know what he will or will not do, but you can NEVER know what a liar will do.
Then I started to think about my 10 years in Egypt, what I have learned and observed here. I started to think about the American Declaration of Independence (because of the 2011 Revolution here). I started to think about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I realised that both the American Declaration of Independence and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were both documents produced by Leaders or ‘people at the top of the heap’ so to speak – some individuals with a vision of a better society. That is all these two pieces of paper are because, at the end of the day, every country gets the type of government it’s people deserve, the government is a reflection of the population. Even in a dictatorship because you can only have a dictator – benign or otherwise, if you have a population who can live by being dictated to.
My question on Egypt’s revolution is – “Did Egyptians revolt because they had enough of being dictated to, or was it simply the police brutality they had enough of? American Declaration of Independence asserts that all individuals have an unalienable right to Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness. Thomas Jefferson said “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…”This is a vision, a desire because the Creator did not endow anyone with these rights – they are given and taken away every minute of the day all over the world by human to human – NOT the Creator.
They are gifts that can only be given from one to another from the heart. There is no law or declaration can bestow these gifts on anyone. Universal Declaration of Human Rights says it all in the 1st article and if this article were followed by individuals there would be no need for any more words. Article 1 says “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” Problem is we don’t act that way, not within families, among neighbours, with workmates, in the street or between nations.
The logical conclusion here is: Government from the top down does not work! Not even in a democracy which is supposed to be government of the people, from the people and by the people. Government from the top down does not work because power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Just look at all the powerful, bankers, businessmen, politicians and governments that have fallen so fast over the last 2 years!
The logical solution to all the world’s woes is……….Learn to walk in the other person’s shoes, look at life through the other persons eyes, from the other person’s position, understand him. Then live with him, work with him, do business with him in the same way you would like him to live with, work with and do business with you. Will the people see that they cannot trust or be led by people who lie? Or will Egypt get a government and a President that reflects themselves? Who are the Egyptians anyway?