Hiding in plain sight!

When the word 'crime' is brought up, a dark abandoned alley in the dead of night comes to mind, where a person is walking and looking over their shoulder for any danger than might be lurking in the dark behind the garbage bins only to be leaped upon with no warning and have all worldly possessions taken or in many cases, your very life.

What I have to say to this is: not any more! We now live in a world where someone can be attacked in the middle of the afternoon on the busiest streets in town. Of course, this isn't news to most city dwellers - it happens all the time. However, and this is the point that I'm trying to make, people just don't care any more. People lose no sleep whatsoever when they stand in the middle of the street and watch as a violent at-knife-point mugging is unfolding before their very eyes. As immoral and unethical as this practice is, I find myself doing the same when I'm put in those situations.
Therefore, we are faced with a moral dilemma. If someone is being mugged in front of us (which in many cases turns into accidental murder as the result of a struggle) should we do anything to stop it and risk being injured or even killed ourselves for the sake of a complete stranger whom you don't know would do the same for you if the tables were turned, or should we simply watch in silence under a cloud of shame?

I was faced with this question just a few days ago when I saw across the street a beggar who held a young boy (also a beggar, judging by his appearance) at knife point demanding the few pounds that he had just managed to beg out of a woman in her Lexus. There was not a doubt in my mind as I stood there and watched this happen that I was doing anything wrong. I wasn't about to risk my life for a child who would eventually die of s horrible disease from living inside a garbage dump. Which brings me to next quesrtion: is it immoral to put the lives of the higher classes before those of the less fortunate? Is a beggars life any less precious than that of an aristocrat? I know the theoretical answer to these questions, however the reality of the matter is very different, as you might have all guessed.

Finally, it is in great sadness that I admit to you that even though this happens in plain sight of everyone who interacts with the living, there is no solution in sight because people are by nature selfish and would put their own well-being before that of their fellow man.

Back to School :'(

In just four days I shall embark on the first day of my second year at university (college of dentistry to be exact). What makes this year more significant than the last is simply that now I'll be going to the actual medical/dental campus instead of being a freeloader at the college of Science. This is when I can actually become a part of the so-called dental community that I'm supposed to become a part of eventually.

As exciting as the academic part of my transition is, there is a reason more compelling for me which makes this transition all the more exiting. In the past year, I've come across some of the older classes and gotten an idea of what the next years of my college life will be like in terms of both academia and socially as well. I'm looking forward most to meeting the older classes whom I've been told are a lot more open that my own class in terms of who they allow themselves to mingle with/talk to, etc...in other words: people who are more "free" than my own class [refer to previous post with the title "free" for more information..lol]

Now allow me to be sarcastic...can it be that there are female members of my society out there who willingly shake hand and look into the eyes of the opposite sex? Do they dress so provocatively as to allow one to imagine what they would look like under suck clothes which still cover every inch of their bodies?? Is this all possible?...

Anyway, I'm simply hoping to find people with a higher level of sophistication and intelligence than the people to whose company I've been unwillingly subjected to for the past year.

Sometimes thing's aren't what they seem...

I know I have a whole other blog that discusses stuff like this, but since that was a practice blog, I'm going to post it here.

FACEBOOK: Friend or foe?

Facebook has become, at least in the arab world, the center of the lives of all its youth. No one between the ages of 13 and 25 doesn't have one (or more) accounts. It has infiltrated people's lives like an incurable disease, that continues to infect people as time passes. By this I mean that it is the number one - no exageration there - cause of any personal arguments or quarrels in the area...sometimes even on the professional level.
First, there's the issue of photos. When is it okay to post a picture of someone, and when is it not? Is there some position that is not allowed or something? also, is there some sort of guideline for commenting on photos that we should all know of? When is a joke simply a joke and when is it an insult. Why do people begin to treat each other like dirt when one deletes another from a friend list? Why should it matter? Does text have a tone, and can it be misunderstood or taken as a compliment or an insult at will? All these questions have been running through my mind because of a recent incedent because the hellhole that is facebook.
All this being said, I have no intention of deactivating my facebook account. As bad as its effect is on people's social lives, it's also a good tool to keep in touch with certain people. However, I maintain that facebook has and will always have a more negative effect on people that a positive one. Also, I intend of deleting most of my photos very soon - I for one can do without the daily drama of facebook and facebookers...

Ramadan: A month of worship?

It's been nearly a month since my last post, therefore I apologize. But in my defense, I've been quite busy (that and the fact that I had begun to run out of material.)
However, with the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan (during which Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset) I've found myself with more spare time than I would have liked. As always, one would expect that during this month that society become a utopia, since people should (the keyword here being: should) refrain from cursing or swearing of any kind, sex in any way shape or form, or any action that would be considered sinful or wrong in any way. Although it may sound good on paper, the reality of the matter is that as hard as people might try, it never works. In other words, people just don't practice what they preach. In fact, I hear more swearing and derogatory secual remarks during fasting times than any other time of the year, and when you tell that person what they're doing wrong, a typical answer is: "well, if she cared about religion then she wouldn't dress like that in front of a man." or anything similar.
Then of course there's the issue of praying in the mosque. People who are supposedly going to the mosque in order to worship a holy God simply go there to get into fist fights with other worshipers to get to stand in the places closest to the Imam.
Ramadan has become a sales pitch for many businesses nowadays, where a casino that offers prostitues and wine on one night will offer you a copy of the Holy Quran on the next. Not to mention the endless parade of cheap soap-operas that flood the satellite television during the month of purity and fasting.
In the end I just wanted to ask you a question. Is Ramadan actually the month of worship, or has it simply become the month of hypocracy? you decide...