Much Ado About Nothing

An intrinsic part of Egyptian culture – cherished by many and understood by few.

Once there was a man with a broken door. Everybody knew he had a broken door because they spent hours every evening staring at his door – or each other’s doors for that matter. The man then fixed it by tying a rope around the broken knob. Everybody then knew he had a “broken but newly renovated door” because, once again, his door was public property and it’s important that the public become concerned about public property.

Being a low profiler, the man decided he could not neighborhood’s talk any more. He brought down the door and fixed a brand new one. Everybody then walked over to look at this brand new door. They of course did this to ensure they were spreading the right talk. They now ensured everybody not only knew had a brand new door now, but that he used to have a broken door and later a broken door with a repaired knob. Being responsible citizens, they have to be accurate in what they pass around. What goes around comes around.

One day, a wise man got sick of the neighborhood’s attitude, so he called in all the people and asked them: Why are you still talking about the man? He fixed a brand new mahogany door just to ensure your tongues are tied. Why can you not spare him any peace?

Three people responded:

1. Come on old man, how many broken doors are there? Being responsible citizens and working for the good of this town, any news is our news. I mean, we do respect his privacy but we’ve just gotta let our neighbors know about the plight of our poor neighbor. Perhaps they could help him. We know he has never asked for help, but that is community service – meeting unmet (unheard?) needs.

2. We’ve also gotta tell our neighbor’s neighbors just in case they’re awake the night any thieves break in. You know, with a door like that, this guy is an easy target. We would not want our neighbor to be robbed and killed alive. Being responsible citizens, we’re all here for each other

3. And wise man, there is still another group – the thieves themselves, just in case they come in at the wrong time…now being responsible citizens, we must ensure everybody gets a piece of the pie…

I could never find any accurate vocabulary to describe the utmost foolishness of idle talk, or any to describe the ignorance of its supporters. I wrote this anecdote to draw a picture instead.


Food-for-thought: A picture is worth a thousand words!