SHAHIRAS CHOICE Let me tell you an amazing story of an amazing friend of mine named Shahira Amin, but first let me put things into proper context. Back when the Jews were being savaged by the Nazis in concentration camps, a woman named Sophie was given a choice straight from the mind of Satan. She was given a choice between saving her ten year old son or her seven year old daughter but she couldnt save both. Can you imagine if someone gave you that choice, I mean wouldnt you rather commit suicide right then and there then to have to make that devils choice? But she didnt commit suicide because dying meant she was going to give both her children a death sentence. So she made a choice, she made a Sophies choice, she chose to choose one and in turn commit the other to the gas chamber. She made the only choice she could, she chose one (her son) and scarified the other (her daughter). For that choice she was forever injured, the world was no longer hers, she was committed to a lifetime of sadness and depression but at least she saved one of her children. That is why to this day when someone gives you two options and its hard to pick one, its called Sophies choice, she was the genesis of that saying. Remember this back story, book mark right here, we will pick back up shortly. Now that I have given you a background story, let me pick back up on this amazing Shahira I am writing about. You see, Shahira had a choice too but it was not as nearly as agonizing as Sophie but it was agonizing anyway. You see, Shahira had a plush job in Cairo, she was a news anchor for Egypts news network, but really it was not as much news as you think, for as in everywhere in Africa, the news was an extension of the government so people had to be careful about what they said--they got censored--for if they spoke out they would lose their livelihood. But really this censoring of our opinions happens world wide, do you think I would say even a tenth of a tenth of a tenth of what I say on Facebook when I was working at Booz Allen Hamilton? Heck no, I knew when to be quiet and act a part of a servant because we all have this master called jobs and we act different each time we walk into the workplace. Which is why I quit my job 8 months ago in order to pursue my passion, for a man cant serve two masters, you either chase your dreams or work for the man who made his dreams--simple. Anyway at some point during the Arab Spring, things got out of hand. The government turned nefarious like the old pharaoh and decided to slay his people. Thus Mubarak went ham and ordered his military and police to savagely murder his own people and thus Mubarak gave birth to Tahrir (freedom) Square. The people realized that Mubarak was an emperor with no clothes, so they promptly rose up against him. This happens over and over in history, it only takes a few brave souls to stand up with courage and then the rest will follow. This is how revolutions start, with an evil ruler giving birth to his own grave by overreacting. This happened in Egypt, this happened in Romania with Nicolae Ceausescu, and at some point it will happen in Ethiopia. Memo to Hailemariam Desalegn, 2015 is right around the corner and elections are coming up in May. Please believe me when I tell you, let this be a warning, a prophecy, yeah you can say I am throwing my staff at your thrown and turning my words to snakes, overreact and murder my people and you are literally digging your grave. Anyway, back to , you see at that moment she too had a choice. Stay silent and by extension consent and in the process refuse to report of the atrocities or speak up and stand for justice and in the process lose her job and potentially her life. I take it back, Shahiras choice was almost as difficult as Sophies choice, I mean stay silent and witness the death thousands and by extension be a willing accomplice or stand up for justice for her people and in the process maybe lose her life. Let me give you a proper perspective, I am adamant about my opposition to the TPLF Ethiopian government who are really ruthless thugs, but Im voicing my opinion from the comforts of DC, because if I go to Ethiopia right now my life might be over. So in a way you can say Im a coward, I refuse to give up my life for my principle. But not Shahira, no she did the human and brave thing, she stood up for justice and risked it all. When she made that choice, all doors closed on her. She lost her job and she became a pariah to the powers that be in Egypt. All her lifes work was about to be erased, she literally put her money where her mouth was and in the process was facing not being able to nurture her mouth. Do you know just how amazing this act of defiance was by Shahira? Would you do something like that? No would you? Do you think I would have gone to my boss at Booz Allen Hamilton and told him ummm boss I think Booz Allen should stop working with the Pentagon because they keep blowing up innocent kids in Afghanistan with drones. Nope, for as much as I speak up for justice, when the time comes to put my money where my mouth is, I choose money and shut my mouth and worked at the Pentagon for the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force during the day while I went home at night and fumed about the military blowing up villages in Kabul and building a base in my homeland Ethiopia. But I am not special, I did what 99.99% of this world would do. I chose my stomach over my people, thus I am not very different. But not Shahira, she is very different. She is an angel, she chose to stand up for her people and in the process got fired for it. This is why Shahira belongs in my top 1,000 people of people I adore in the history of the world (think about how many people that is and think about how special you have to be in order to be my top 1,000) Crazy thing is that one of my favorite 1,000 is someone I can call a dear friend and a soul sister from Egypt. Give me a choice between talking to Obama or Shahira and I swear I would pick Shahira a million times out of a million. Because Obama promised hope then reverted to the status quo as soon as he got elected, whereas Shahira clung to hope and helped to get rid of Mubarak in the process. That right there is the PERFECTION of defianance! So lets circle back to the story of Sophies choice. Let me introduce you to a new concept, Shahiras choice, a choice between convenience and defiance! Shahira chose defiance! And I love defiance almost as much as I love the word love. Because that is what we should all do, when met with evil and violence, DEFY! Do not give in to oppression and tyranny. And guess what, Allah blesses those who dont compromise their principles for the sake of money, for now the world is Shahiras oyster, she travels the world speaking about defiance, Mubarak gave birth to Tahrir Square but also gave birth to Shahrias life mission, to spread a message of defiance and standing up against tyranny, now all dictators fear her because she has a message born out experience, without knowing it Mubarak gave Shahira credibility and because of that, people listen to her throughout the globe. You see, a bullet can stop a life but it cant stop a movement. Ideas live on regardless if the martyr witnesses its birth, bullets only add life to ideas, bullets have yet to kill an idea. One day soon Hailemariam Desalegn will get a visit from Shahira and he will fear her like the Pharoe feared Moses, because all tyrants in the history of mankind are cowards, it just takes one person to point out that the emperor has no clothes. In the process today Shahira helped me to get rid of one of my hatreds. For a long time I hated Israel for what they are doing to Palestinians. I mean taking their land, taking their belongings and doing to the Palestinians what the Nazis did to Jews. No I am not exaggerating, Hitler put Jews in ghettos and stole their hope from them. What do you think Israel is doing by building walls (ghetto means wall) and dehumanizing Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and at some point even putting yellow arm bands on Palestinians to identify them the same way Hitler put yellow arm bands on Jews. But now I kind of have a different perspective now that I think about it. Hurt people hurt people, when they say never again they get blinded by paranoia and think that every Arab is out to kill them. And I will not lie Israel faces threats daily, but like I said dictators are cowards, they have to kill in order to survive. Benjamin Netanyahu could choose another path, he could liberate Palestinians from the ghettos he is building, instead he chooses to build settlements in the West Bank. Like I said though, bullies dont sleep well at night, they are paranoid that those they pick on are out to get them. So in a way I feel sorry for Israel, as much as they kill Palestinians, they never get a good nights sleep, so when they say Never Forget the are condemning themselves to never forget paranoia and trust me that is not the way to live. But Im going to start reaching out to more Jewish people and make friends, maybe by changing one mind I can change 6,000,000 eventually so that Jews and Arabs can live together peacefully. After all, it is better to have a dialogue than to yell and accost people, I cant change one mind by berating them about what they are doing wrong because they will be defensive, but if I embrace my enemies in kindness maybe they will in time be my friend and in the process I will have gotten hatred out of my heart. See how Shahira and I make great friends, we are both happy warriors on the side of justice, although she is braver than me. So thank you Shahira for making the proper and moral choice. You are my hero for that and I hope one day I will get the courage like you. Until then, I will keep on writing about you and all my 1,000 heroes and in the process I will keep on meeting new people and writing about them before they are discovered because I am building an army and you my dearest Shahira will be the general that will lead the coming revolution, a revolution that is bloodless but frees people from the yolk of oppression. Until then, DEFY! Meet Shahira below, this is a clip from a TEDex event she did. Listen to her words, she is whispering the melody of freedom (Tahrir) and in the process she is telling women world wide to stand up, for without women taking the lead, men will keep messing things up and killing hope with bullets. Women, rise up, and always when confronted between money and principle, please make the proper choice, always make Shahiras choice! Women are the future of the new Egypt, they will lead, and the men will follow ~ Shahira Amin Im not tagging anyone on here except the relevant person in this story who is my dearest friend Shahrira, but I will leave you with this, if you think more people need to know about Shahrira and her choice of defiance, share this link on your wall and tag people in the comments below. Most importantly comment and meet my soul friend Shahrira! Shukram! A quick shout out, Helen Derbew, remember when you called me TEDex, think its only a coincidence that I picked out a TEDex clip of Shahira by accident. Right you know better, God or Allah, or whatever you call the same God we pray to, is NOT an accident! PS Shahrira means Renowned...her work made her renowned world wide because she chose humanity over self interest...think it was an accident when her parents called her Shahrira??
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 21:19:55 +0000
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