Ouled Taima, Morocco
This
question has been asked many times these days. Many Moroccan citizens are eager
to poke their noses into what happens to their old colonizers France and Spain. They never
get bored from quarrelling over the issue of
French elections or the Spanish football matches. What makes the situation
worse is that none of the debaters, if there has been any debate so far, were able to define and determine at what each candidate is aiming in his electoral
program, and none of them could specify what a football
club is based on.
A group of
smokers and coffee drinkers sitting crossed-legged
was in a quarrel-like discussion. Their ideas
were two opposite views. The first was for the newly elected politician
Emmanuel Macron as he seemed to feel no harm in coexisting with the Arabs and
Muslims. His young facial appearance and elegant look may have gained some
support from the immigrants. Also, his getting spliced with an approximately sixty year old lady won the heart of
many supporters and made them stand by his side. Contrariwise, a few smoking
addicted young guys with strange haircuts and
weird lines of slash like beards expressed their views in a tone of hate and
abhorrence against all the Arabs and Muslims.
Their perspective went in the opposite direction from
the first. They urged themselves, even heartedly, to support the short haired
and ferocious looking lawyer Marie Le Pen.
To my
dismay, the quarrel went on and coincided with a few passages of Coelho’s deep
words about a person’s future and destiny. It seemed as if Coelho was there sipping his coffee with his usual glasses and
frequent smile. I had a glance at one of the passersby
who was actually a beggar. He unhesitatingly directed towards the so-called debaters and showed the usual reply ‘Lah
ishal’. The poor man, as he appeared, looked in despair and started his heavy
steps, his empty palm asking for some coins. I could guess the answer of one of
them before he uttered back. One of the debaters thought at last to warm the
beggar’s heart with a single dirham. He confessed that he gave money to prove
his support for Macron. I thought then of something wrong with Moroccans
dealing with French issues. The group called it a day, and all of the debaters
begged each other’s pardon. One of them added: ‘’I support Macron!” They
dispersed with large smiles on their faces.
Next to me
was a man with his small son. I heard him telling him about the Spanish league.
The boy was in rupture to sip his coffee and smell the first smoke of
cigarettes beside. The father himself took one cigarette and lit it proudly
puffing a long stream of smoke in the air. That was enough for me to start my
preparation to leave. I drank some water and paid the waiter. Suddenly, I heard
the father sitting next to me asking for the results of the Spanish league. The
loss of his favorite team changed his mood and made him dead like a corpse on the chair.
I couldn’t
believe how such interest in others’ stuff like elections or football could
change our frames of minds in such a way. We tend to quarrel over elections
that we know nothing about. Also, we keep alert to know the recent results of
football clubs of a country that we know nothing about. On the contrary, we
keep ignorant about the hardships and serious problems of our country that we know
many things about.
Thumbs up !!!!
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