Tonight's episode of “Family Values” is about recognition. It's a very important thing and it also makes an incredible difference. Getting recognition is always wonderful, but when it comes from family, it's even much better. By family here I mean my Egyptian Gazette and Egyptian Mail colleagues, whom I've had the pleasure of working with for years… and still they survived! As you might have heard, last week we were celebrating The Egyptian Gazette's 130th anniversary and in the process a brilliant performance by the highly talented Omar Khairat was given at the Main Hall of the Cairo Opera House. He was accompanied by the Cairo Symphony Orchestra and many renowned soloists. This concert was preceded by a documentary about The Egyptian Gazette. Numerous staff members, who helped our newspaper in reaching its current status, received special awards from The Egyptian Gazette as a token of appreciation. Some of those people passed away, but they will always be remembered. The Egyptian Gazette also gave awards to some distinguished artists, like actor Sherif Mounir and the name of legendary Egyptian-international movie director, the late Youssef Shaheen. Relatively newcomers, like actor Amr Ramzy, were not left out. Two days before the ceremony, I realised that my name was on the list of awards. I had no clue what the award was, so the first thing to cross my mind was a… dismissal note! At that point I wasn't sure who was getting this award me or The Egyptian Gazette. Maybe my colleagues finally found out a way to get rid of me. I was imagining all the details “and the dismissal note goes to… (drum roll)… Amr Hussien. OUT YOU GO.” I was wondering to myself should I work on my running. No one wants to stand on stage with things being thrown at them… especially sharp objects. I thought I'd go buy a helmet but I couldn't find one to suit the suit I was going to wear. I told myself that running fast might save me and decided to pretend it's part of the show, just like some presenters do dance routines or something. Much to my surprise, it was a “real” award. To be precise, it was the Award of Distinction. Please note that I said “Distinction” and not “Extinction”… You wish! Come to think of it, I am very distinctive. Frankly, how many weird, obnoxious, self-centred, horrific psychopaths do you know? Only me! I've received a couple of awards before, but this one is really special, because as I said, it's from the family. I was even introduced as “the artist Amr Hussien”, which sounded a little like “the artist formerly known as Prince”. Of course I'm referring to the time when Prince decided to change his name into a symbol, which no one was able to pronounce in words! I didn't get to work on my speech" what a shame! I know the man behind this is our wonderful Editor-in-Chief Mr Ramadan Abdel Kader. I also know many people will never forgive him for this, but still I really would like to thank him. I am not sure if someone else was involved in this conspiracy! On the same evening, many of my colleagues received their awards as well and I want to congratulate them all and tell them that they definitely deserve the recognition. Although I was present that evening, the atmosphere was quiet friendly" I was sedated! Actually, there were two reasons for attendees to be happy. First, those who received awards were happy, I guess and so were all the ones who love them. The second reason was the brilliant performance given by the exceptional composer/pianist Omar Khairat and the orchestra. Unfortunately, I missed that because I was very busy doing numerous other things, all of which were related to the newspaper and the event. At least I enjoyed the company of many members of The Egyptian Gazette family after the show and also had a free soda! Now, let me finish what I was saying a while ago about the awards and the ceremony. The song that would describe how I felt the most would be Mariah Carey's “Hero”. OK, OK. I was only kidding. How could I waste a chance to make fun of myself? Back to my heroic self, let's drop Mariah's track in favour of another Abba's “The Winner Takes it All” will do, thank you very much. Unlike the song title, I didn't get the beautiful girl or the flashy car. I only went home with my award. This proves that the song should have called “The Winner Takes Award”. Pass me a handkerchief please. Seriously it was a brilliant evening. I can really use the same words sung by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes “(I've Had) The Time of My Life”. But I still need to frame my certificate, so let me know if there is a particular shop you would like to recommend. Forget Abba, forget frames and remember Russ Ballard, who said it all and very wisely too on the hit “I'm Winning”, which he wrote for Santana. He simply said “I'm winning, I'm winning”. A part of a timeless song came to mind as well you know that part when the backing singers go “tell me more, tell me more”? It's of course taken from the epic “Summer Nights” by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, from my all time favourite movie “Grease”. How many times have I watched that movie? I lost count, but I believe it's 55 times. I swear I'm serious. Being the very modest man I am, I never ever talk about myself and whenever I'm forced to, I feel so bad. Was it me or Warren Beatty who inspired Carly Simon to write her classic “You're So Vain”? No one will ever know, because nobody is sure that she wrote it about him in the first place! To sum it all up, I think Whitney Houston was thinking of me and not the Olympic champions when she was singing “One Moment in Time”. As I was running to receive the award, I was also running out of breath. I had no energy left to finish the few remaining metres and I tried so very hard not to fall down. I knew if I didn't make it someone else was going to finish the race… I mean the ceremony… and claim this award. OH NO… I would never allow this. I had to motivate myself, so I thought “Champ, you only have to focus on the finish line and…” Line? This reminds me of my deadline. I have to finish this article right now. Bye. Send me your awards to: [email protected]
