جاتنا نىلة فى حظنا الهباب

My father is a kind man! Not just any kind man, but for the sake of fairness and honesty I wont brand him the title of being the kindest man on earth.. I will say he's among the top 5.

He paid for my entire life over the past 22 years, including all the extra unessential things that my life could have gone so perfectly fine without.. whether it was a week trip to Rome or some designer bag!

Recently, he agreed to pay for my tuition at a NYC university for a post grad course. I moved to NYC for 2 whole months and you can imagine it wasn't a cheap move.

You would ask so what's the problem?

I would say, I was studying during my undergraduates to become a Journalist. Up until the day I graduated I didn't care whether it be a print or a broadcast Journalist. Even though writing is what I do best (at least I think so) I still had doubts about whether I would always want to commit to the print media. (This relates to my genuine dislike of commitment all in all). Then I went to NYC where I took two full months of intensive broadcast. I shot my own stories, I edited my own stories and I created my own version of news! Sounds pretty cool right? Well it is.. it was good training for becoming a digital journalist even though this concept is pretty unheard of in Egypt.

The whole purpose was for me to explore the world of camera operation, editing and live reporting to figure out which of these am I passionate about to be able to finally hunt down the job I need instead of wasting time like I had been doing during the whole past year jumping from one insignificant job to the other. Those past 2 months weren't enough of course to give me all the training I need or even all the insight necessary but still I figured out that my passion for Broadcast is a lot higher than print. Good 4 me sa7?

NOT REALLY

I left Cairo and 3 days later Ibrahim Eissa was suspended... 2 weeks later Amr Adeeb was suspended then Hamdy Qandeel then the rumors of Mona El Shazly being suspended. Not that all of those are the symbols of the free truthful honest journalism I seek to be part of but they're the best I can do and the closest thing to what I dream of. And now... they're all none existent

My father and my mother are working class individuals who work REALLY HARD to provide us with the quality of life we (my brother and I) enjoy. They do not own businesses and are not heirs of pricey looms or even "well connected".. they are just like any other Egyptian but they were blessed with proper educations that helped them be who they are today... and this is exactly why they NEVER oppose to invest in my education.

But what use is this education if there is no room for me to practice what I learn? Is it either sugar coat realities and live in a pink bubble or not work at all? Is it fair that my father pays his sweat, blood and tears' worth of money for me to learn and then I come back to find all the doors closed?

We all know the answers... but who's willing to say them out loud??

I quote one of my favorite writers and humans Dr. Alaa El Aswani... "El demoqrateya heya el 7al"