Words and Photography by Ehab Othman

Yesterday morning, while visiting my grandparents in Tabarboor / Abu Alia area, I saw this:

Luckily I had my camera and took a snapshot of the incident. According to the neighbors, this is a very common scene of kids trying to skip classes every day. They said that the school principal is trying his best to control it, but without success.

Now, take a good look at this video from Yarmook University.

Ten years ago while I was still an undergraduate at Mutah university in Kerak, such incidents, or even bigger fights between students, were not very unusual. It’s the same view from a different year or a different university, with the same people behind it but with different names.

Unfortunately we are living in a corrupted society, in schools, universities, governments, at work. We even see it on the streets; driving is a very corrupted and stressful practice. Corruption as a word can hold different meanings applied to different levels but literally means: utterly broken. Who is responsible for this? Everyone is talking about a #ReformJo movement, we are asking the government for some serious changes. Well, guess what, it won’t work. We might have some changes now, maybe tomorrow or next year, but the cycle will repeat itself again and again.

A few centuries ago, at the time of the crusades, the situation was not so different from now; Jerusalem was invaded and there were great conflicts in the area. Saladdin [Salah ad-Din], who was a well-educated man and one of the greatest leaders of his time, needed about two decades to restore Jerusalem and unite the region back, by reforming and building a well prepared generation, ready to win the battle. It is the same man who wrote “children are brought up in the way in which their elders were brought”.

We might win the battle of a #reformed Jo today, but we will lose it again 20 years from now, when the same students of today’s incident become the leaders and builders of our society.

Sun Tzu once said in his book (the Art of War) “Know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat.” Today I say the enemy is the corrupted version of me, I should start with that; a #ReformMe movement and only then I shall dream about a reformed Jordan, the only place I can call: Home, the one I loved and will love every day till the end of my time. What do I know about it? Nothing, I am neither a politician nor a social expert, I am just a normal citizen who’s loyal to his country and its people.