In a late February afternoon four years ago, John Stewart from the US was strolling through the streets of the modern urban section of Marrakech, Morocco. Rounding a corner, he spotted Ahmed, a young Moroccan. Colorfully dressed in costumes, Ahmed was sitting on a cement block underneath an equally colorful wall painted with the thematic seal of the local authority. Ahmed’s pose reminded John of French sculptor Rodin’s famous “Thinking Man” statue. What attracted John most was Ahmed’s unique multi-colored funny brimmed hat, totally in contrast to the gloom displayed on his face. John approached him to strike up a conversation. Ahmed was from a nearby village, but came to town every day dressed up in historic traditional costumes, so that the western tourists could snap a few pictures with him to post on their social media portals. In return, he expected a couple of bills of valuable western currencies to consider them to be his daily wage. Thanks to recent global technological revolution, he also had access to a cheap smartphone bringing the world news to him that affect his livelihood.
And on that day in 2017, it finally hit him. America just elected a new President at the end of a most divisive political process in its history when hate, insult and mockery of fellow human beings made up the platform of the winning candidate. From the well-heeled British tourists, he heard about the certainty of that country’s pulling away from the union that other European countries had been working so hardly to keep it together. He became aware of the moral failure of the German executives of a top car maker of that country, with their intention to cheat the fellow human beings in exchange of more profit. John asked Ahmed about his own country’s future outlook. He referred to John to the construction of the spectacular modern Hasan II Mosque in Casablanca (that John visited just a few days ago), for the legacy of the current ruler at a cost of more than half a billion Euros, the money which could have easily been utilized for betterment of healthcare, education and job creations for ordinary people like him. So, he was deeply pondering “Where our world was heading to?” instead of posing with the tourists.
John had no reasonable answer to Ahmed’s query to take away his gloom and make him funny again. In a world, where one percent of current population, amounting to 72 million had been living in tents as the refugees due to war, poverty and displacement, juxtaposed with the fact that only three richest people inside his own country owned more wealth than the poorest 50% of population amounting to 170 million people, John himself pondered “May be utopia has just been a concept, but isn’t human equality also about human dignity?”
Two gentlemen sat together for a while with no intention of posing for a picture for the virtual world.
And on that day in 2017, it finally hit him. America just elected a new President at the end of a most divisive political process in its history when hate, insult and mockery of fellow human beings made up the platform of the winning candidate. From the well-heeled British tourists, he heard about the certainty of that country’s pulling away from the union that other European countries had been working so hardly to keep it together. He became aware of the moral failure of the German executives of a top car maker of that country, with their intention to cheat the fellow human beings in exchange of more profit. John asked Ahmed about his own country’s future outlook. He referred to John to the construction of the spectacular modern Hasan II Mosque in Casablanca (that John visited just a few days ago), for the legacy of the current ruler at a cost of more than half a billion Euros, the money which could have easily been utilized for betterment of healthcare, education and job creations for ordinary people like him. So, he was deeply pondering “Where our world was heading to?” instead of posing with the tourists.
John had no reasonable answer to Ahmed’s query to take away his gloom and make him funny again. In a world, where one percent of current population, amounting to 72 million had been living in tents as the refugees due to war, poverty and displacement, juxtaposed with the fact that only three richest people inside his own country owned more wealth than the poorest 50% of population amounting to 170 million people, John himself pondered “May be utopia has just been a concept, but isn’t human equality also about human dignity?”
Two gentlemen sat together for a while with no intention of posing for a picture for the virtual world.
