A famous man
I said before, I am a man who prefers to be left alone. I stand on the beach watching swimmers, and I abhor any attempt to run and fall into the water. But there are those situations in which I am forced to jump into the water. . I am supposed to be a well-known writer and I certainly have something to say anywhere at any moment. For example, you are sitting at that party, greedily devouring food and holding a chicken leg, removing the meat from it, when someone says: “Of course, Dr. (Ahmed) cannot be with us, and we do not hear his opinion.” .. “Here I realize that the words are directed at me, so I raise my mouth soaked in sauce and ask what is going on. They ask me about my opinion on applying governance to private sector institutions.. I must have a ready and very eloquent response, as if I spent my life thinking about governance and did not sleep because of it. I must express this opinion while holding a chicken leg in my hand. For example, I walk next to a work colleague giving an interview to television, with the microphone and lens pointed at his face. I pass by on my fingertips so as not to appear in the frame, but he senses me and shouts in joy: “There is no fatwa while your money is in the city... This is my colleague Dr. (Ahmed), and he will tell us his opinion.” Regarding the Monroe Doctrine and its relationship to Adam Smith’s theory, “Thus I find myself, within a second, in front of the lens, and I have to say a very intelligent statement that summarizes my opinion that I worked hard to extract on this point... In short, I must have a comprehensive opinion about everything at any moment in my life.” .. They don't leave you a chance to think. Another ridiculous situation is when I'm with an old friend in his office talking. Here a hurried and bored secretary enters the room. She takes some papers and is about to leave, but my colleague stops her and says: “Guess... do you recognize this distinctive face?” She looks at me with hatred and then says: “No”... as if she is spitting.. he says Excitedly: “This is Dr. Ahmed. Have you never read him before?” She looks at me with distaste this time and says while standing at the door: “I have never read him. I have never seen him, and I don’t know who he is..” I whisper. My colleague may have mercy on me and shut up, but he insists that she remember me, otherwise woe to her: “I certainly read an article by him in such-and-such newspaper or such-and-such newspaper... Have you read such-and-such a novel by him?” She shakes her head in denial as she moves one foot instead of another, and he says to her with insistence: He appears very frequently on the (Lizard) satellite channel. Did you not see him in a long interview the day before yesterday? She looks at me for a long time and then says in distress: “I did not see him..” “Wait a minute... Do you follow the (Lizard) channel?” She says in the same tone: “I follow it and we do not watch any other channel in our house... and I sit in front of it for twenty-four hours, but despite this I have never seen it.” Here I have reached the end, so I plead with my friend. To allow her to leave, so she goes on the run as if she were a serial killer escaping from prison. He shakes his head in astonishment and mumbles: “This is strange. I thought everyone knew you. People’s ignorance has reached an extreme..” Here a boy enters the buffet carrying coffee, and my friend stops him and says: “Mohammedin is a good, brave boy from Upper Egypt. Everyone loves him here. But do you know who is sitting with me, Mohamedeen? He knows him, and I am not the Prime Minister, so his picture is in Al-Youm newspaper... So who am I? Yes... As I told you, I very much welcome a degree of neglect... health neglect that gives me my freedom. Please do not ask me about my opinion on the market economy while I am devouring chicken or lamb. I will be thankful to you.
From the book Depressing Laughs by Dr. Ahmed Khaled Tawfiq
