Mood Swings
An American perspective
By
Wendy Jean Lee*
Today I ran into a most unfortunate friend. Well, truth be told all we foreign women married to Egyptian men are unfortunate for obvious reasons, as everyone knows that no Egyptian man comes by a foreign wife honestly and we foreign women are in no way to be blamed for having been hoodwinked, charmed, bamboozled, seduced, tricked and persuaded without our knowledge and against the best advice of our red-blooded American relatives to willingly submit to the unenviable and inescapable state known as Marriage to an Egyptian Man.
But this particular friend is even more unfortunate than I, because she not only has an Egyptian husband, she has an Egyptian husband who is furious with her right now because she apparently forgot to lock the drawer in which he had stored a large sum of American dollars and now the dollars are gone. (And let's face it, anyone could have made this mistake and anyone would be furious if his or her spouse made it.)
And, yes, my friend and her husband do have a new maid and, yes, everyone knows that there can obviously be only one explanation as to how the missing money came to be missing. But my friend is reluctant to accuse the maid of taking the money in the absence of concrete evidence, as she like me is American and we Americans never make accusations without evidence.
In fact, we Americans always presume everyone is innocent until proven guilty. And no-one can be proven guilty until he is judged in a fair and objective manner by a jury of his peers. (This is what we call "due process"). And no American would ever think for a moment of branding or labelling someone a criminal until his guilt has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt through said "due process". Then, and only then, may a punishment be decided on and meted out -- though this punishment must be reasonable and never "cruel and unusual". (In all but a few American states, "cruel and unusual" is understood to include the death penalty).
For this reason, no American -- well, at least no American acting in an official government capacity -- ever has or ever will make an accusation without sufficient evidence, much less act on that accusation before the accused has received due process, much less seek to punish the accused -- no, not only him, but a lot of other people, a whole lot of other, innocent people -- in short, play judge, jury and executioner not only to the accused but to many thousands of other people who have not even been accused, who couldn't possibly be accused of anything more than living in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nor has any American acting in an official government capacity supported in any way these types of actions undertaken by the government of another country.
I know (trust me, I am painfully aware) that principles like the rule of law, due process, democracy and freedom of speech are fully understood only in one place, a place known by one and all as the "Greatest Country on Earth" and whose people, by virtue of steadfastly defending these principles throughout the world, have well earned the right to call themselves, as they are fond of doing, "the Greatest People on Earth".
So, long story short, my friend and I are here in Egypt, which never even claims to be "the Greatest Country on Earth", with Egyptian husbands, who certainly don't claim to be among "the Greatest People on Earth". Though, luckily for my friend and me, we have been brainwashed to the extent that we now see Egypt and Egyptians as really not so bad -- as in fact pretty wonderful -- and so in our deceived states of mind we are more than content to stay here in Egypt with our Egyptian husbands.
Not that any of this helps my poor friend right now, as her husband is mad at her and will be even madder if, as is now expected, the United States goes to war against Iraq and if, as is now expected, the United States wins that war and if, as the editor of Business Today Egypt says, the dollar gets stronger as a result of such a win. Then my friend's husband will feel the full brunt of what he has lost. And I am sure my friend will wish she were in America enjoying the increased purchasing power of the dollar (though, granted, it will have come at a slight cost to the American Taxpayer who will have to foot the bill for the war) and enjoying life with an American, as opposed to an Egyptian, husband (though, granted, that will have come at a cost, too, since she will no longer be able to claim she has been brainwashed and will have to take responsibility for her own views and actions, like all other red-blooded Americans.)
But none of this is my problem. I rarely have problems such as these because I am an American and we rarely make mistakes (and when we do we admit to them readily and learn from them, especially if said mistakes involve grave consequences, like the deaths of innocent people). And being an American I am not about to make something my problem which is not my problem, nor meddle uninvited in the affairs of others. We Americans know when we are not wanted.
This is the American Way.
* This week's contributor is an American resident of Cairo.
