My father, a conservative Saeedi lawyer and an avid reader, gave me a copy of “A Thousand and One Nights” in Arabic at the age of 14 and I was immediately hooked! I do not remember any of the sexual insinuations or profanities that those "lawyers with lots of restrictions "mention. All I remember is an amazing journey, beautifully written, of one fable born from another with princes and princesses, kings and queens, beggars and thieves, friends and foes, amidst high seas, caves, castles and deserts. But above all what I actually learnt from reading that great classic at that tender age, is the wisdom of life with all its beauty and ugliness, about courage and cowardice, integrity and treachery, and the most important lesson which is that true love conquers all. When certain people play mother on a whole nation, and impose their stone age ideas on us, there has to be a serious reaction to that kind of attitude. If they do not want to listen to Sir Elton John, one of the greatest artists of our time, or read an important book like "Azazeel", it's fine by me, but that is where it ends. Stopping Elton John from performing will not make Egypt a gay free zone; nor will taking Youssef Ziedan to court make us forget that there was a dark era in Christianity. To those people, I can only say wake up and smell the smoke before you burn us all. Ghada Khalife
