Caugh in the Middle

Many of the bloodiest battles that caused millions to loose their due to arrogance. Pride is one of the biggest sins caused by pride in oneself while looking at the others as inferiors. It comes from an inside feeling of emptiness and low self esteem. To compensate the afflicted person or entity attempts to glorify itself and down-look on others. The arrogant demands rights and privileges that he/she does not deserve and can not be fulfilled at the current circumstances.

Egypt has had more than its fair share of arrogant people from ancient times up until now. Egypt suffered under the stubbornness of Pharaoh against Moses, Abdul-Nasser and Mubarak. The tyrants have always refused to heed advise and went even against their best judgments to their doom. Pharaoh has drowned, Abdul-Nasser got defeated by Israel in the six days war and Mubarak left a nation in shambles.

Now lets take lessons of the past and apply it to the present situation of the transitional period. The Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) is made up of the army commanders is now in charge of the transitional period. It has absolute power; it has the executive powers of the president and the legislative power of the parliament. SCAF from the time it took power from Mubarak have been down looking at the youth of Tahrir Square as irresponsible kids that need to be schooled, fooled and beaten. After the youth have proved their strength and political ability, SCAF have attempted to vilify them by claiming they have foreign agendas.

From the other side, the youth have been very suspicious of SCAF, they saw the army as an extension of the Mubarak regime. The youth saw SCAF as a group of old fashioned generals that have outlived their times. They believed that the generals are as easily beatable as the old regime and will bend under intense pressure. The arrogantly forgot that the Egyptian Army receives annually $1.8 billion in US-aid. They have state of the art weaponry like F16, tanks and chemical weapons, unlike the outdated police force that folded during the revolution.

The political parties secular and Islamist are full of vanity. The Secular parties are living in their ivory tower believing that the public chose their opponents out of their ignorance. They forgot that they lack the ability to provide a clear understandable election platform and stop squabbling about their petty pedantic issues. The Islamists are no better, they are basking shamelessly in their election victories. They are machiavellianly allying themselves with SCAF or the youth depending on the situation to get the most privileges during the transitional period. They conveniently forgot the voters' interests and many of their candidates broke the election commission rules to win.

Hence, it is important for each side to be humble and remember that we are all in the same boat. For this country to survive the youth, SCAF, the secular and Islamic parties need to learn to cooperate. Each should compromise and learn the etiquette political dialogue. All political participants need to exercise self restraint. SCAF needs to refrain from using violence and youth needs to halt protesting giving the country a chance to heal. The secular parties need to learn respecting the will of the voters. The Islamists show that they genuinely believe in democracy and stop intimidating women and minorities and actively care for the people who gave them their vote.