Pumped by media dreams of fame and fortune, everyone wants everything, faster without effort, writes Hussein Ahmed Amin* One television ad that came out roughly at the beginning of Ramadan has caused so much outrage that the advertising company, Mobinil, had to shorten it, cutting out its offending part. The ad was about someone, apparently not so smart, who spent about 20 years toiling in a Gulf country until he managed to get rich and buy a handsome Mercedes. But now, the ad goes on, anyone can have a Mercedes if they buy the Mobinil service that comes with a scratch-off lottery card. This, I have to say, is the kind of thinking that once made Bernard Shaw quip that there are only two ways to get rich: marry a rich woman or work hard for 20 years and then marry a rich woman. Mobinil had the good sense to alter the ad, but the fact remains that the offending ad reflects a real change in the public precept of money, fame, glory and success. No one wants to wait anymore. No one wants to work hard, improve oneself, or waste time growing up. Terms such as "tomorrow" and "when the time is right" are no longer relevant. Hope has turned into an unbridled ambition for instant gain. No one wants to mull over the future. For most people these days, the future is now. I was driving recently in Cairo's downtown and saw billboard signs adorned by faces of television personalities who were hardly recognisable to the public up to five or six months before. These people have made it. They climbed to the height of fame in one big leap, not because they're incredibly charming, unusually brilliant, or immensely talented, but for reasons only God can explain. They achieved celebrity status because they host stars on their programmes and ask them about their private lives. The programmes they present are watched by many more than who used to listen to Um Kalthoum on the radio. Their fame exceeds that of our top literary giants of the past, Taha Hussein and Abbas Al-Aqqad included. And with fame comes money. Talk show hosts make in an average month more than the entire teaching staff of a high school make in an entire year. Those are the people who have hit the jackpot on an invisible scratch-off lottery card of fame. Why would anyone, then, care to struggle and self-improve? What we have here is the celebrity world's answer to fast food and instant coffee. Our young people are aware of that, and they too want instant fame. Why work and wait? This brand of celebrity does not depend on what you know, but who you know. It depends on how many critics, chief editors, publishers, media moguls, and ruling party officials you're friends with. Ibn Hazm, the 11th century Cordova-born man of letters, once said, "the fastest things to grow are the quickest to perish, the slowest to emerge are the longest to last, and what we get with difficulty doesn't easily slip away." Actresses of the last generation, such as Sanaa Gamil, would study for years, then take small roles, then work their way into stardom slowly but surely. Now, young people think they can make it all the way to the top without having to go through the boredom of training and learning. In the past, an actress aspired to become a star; now a star aspires to become an actress Our sons and daughters are looking at years of study and learning as a waste of time, a superfluous burden, and an unfair impediment to "real life". What they really want is to win the next scratch-off card. They do not believe in what their teachers are teaching them. They just want to pass the test and make it to the next year. And their parents are of a similar mind; for all they want is for their children to graduate, not learn. Thus the typical college graduate, once he gets his degree, he does not think of finding a job that suits his skills or training, or that stimulates him and benefits others. A typical college graduate looks for the highest paying job the market has to offer, perhaps a post with a bank or a foreign company. That or go to an oil-rich country to work. Look at what young couples do when they get married. They always want to get everything at once; the entire suite of furniture and slew of electronic accessories all have to be there. They frown at the idea of nest-building. The thought doesn't occur to them that they may start out with a few things and get more as time goes by. Everyone wants instant wealth and full luxury, for they believe that those who don't get things immediately won't get them at all. They believe that if they accept humble employment at the beginning, they'll never make it to the top. All they want is to be as successful as Nancy Agram, the Lebanese singer who released hit albums when she was barely 20. This may explain why some of our young people engage in illegal activities, drug dealing included. This may explain why the young get into loveless marriages, just because they can land a rich spouse. This may explain why merchants, contractors, even doctors and lawyers, have so little regard for ancient concepts such as honesty and probity. Everyone is looking for a winning scratch-off card. Everyone is looking for a loophole, a shortcut, a quick fix. No one is waiting for what the future may hold. They want to cut open the future and take out the baby by cesarean section. They don't want to wait for the embryo to grow inside and come out in full time. They don't want to wait for the sapling to become a tree. They don't want to wait for the flower to blossom; they'll just get a plastic one. To those who made it to the top of charts, to the height of fame, to the billboards in public squares, I have this to say: the mediocre may have a stab at fame, but it will remain just a stab. Quick-fix fame will wither on the vine once the lights go out. * The writer is a former Egyptian diplomat.
