On September 9th, the cultural circles all over the world celebrate the commemoration of the birth of the great Russian writer Lev Tolstoy (1828-1910). Tolstoy was able to achieve great fame as thinker, philosopher and social reformer. He led many battles against wealth and feudalism and even the church. Despite his faith, he refused human mediation between man and God, and was punished by the church. He distributed his wealth on the poor, which caused many disputes between him and his wife.

Once upon a time a wife called a doctor to come over and save her husband who was dying. When the doctor arrived, the husband was already dead. The doctor asked: Did he sweat before he died? The wife nodded. “Excellent. This is how it should be” the doctor happily said! This is a joke that shows that some people may care about the rules more than humans. I remembered this story after reading many articles that welcomed and hailed the victory of "democracy" with Erdogan's return to power and the failure of coup in Turkey.

Some people may think that the crisis of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate will make the people forget about the crisis of the two Egyptian islands, Tiran and Sanafir, that were sold to the Saudi Arabia. The crisis of Journalists Syndicate came due to the lack of freedom of speech and violations to it in Egypt. This happens with claims to enforce of the law, but this law is simply ignored every now and then like when the son of Egyptian writer Hassanin Heikal came to Egypt in order to attend his father's funeral, and then he traveled back without being arrested though his name is on the travel ban list. TV presenter Ahmed Moussa was wanted and was found guilty by court and traveled outside Egypt on the presidential plane. Mortada Mansour was also wanted and police couldn’t break into his apartment to arrest him. Our law is only applied on the poor, but the great thieves are untouchable.

The crisis of the Egyptian plane that was hijacked to Cyprus on March 29 ended. However, we should learn from such incident. Egyptian stewardess Nihal Barkoki refused to abandon the plane though she knew that the hijacker was wearing an explosive belt that may end her life. She said later that the passengers were her responsibility, and she took her responsibility though she could die. Yet, none of her family was on board, but it is a matter of conscience for her.

I write today about what happened in January 25, 1951. On that day, several Egyptian police officers gathered in the city of Ismailia governorate administrative building, and decided to face seven thousand English soldiers who were armed with tanks, armored vehicles and guns. The Egyptians were less than 800 soldiers with old guns. Commander of British forces ordered them to surrender and to hand over their weapons and withdraw from the Canal Zone. He threatened to demolish the building on their heads like they had just blown up 156 houses in Kafr Ahmed Abdu in Suez in response to guerrilla operations. Junior officers agreed not to surrender and not to hand over their weapons for the English army. They decided to stand a chance until the final breath knowing they fight an unequal battle and they are most likely to die. The senior officers, Muslims and Christians, took the same decision and took an oath to fight till the end.

Israel wants Egypt to pay her about sixteen billion Egyptian pounds! This came after the International Chamber of Commerce Center obliged Egyptian Petroleum Authority and E-Gas Inc. to pay Israel 1.76 billion dollars in compensation for the loss of for the Israeli Electricity company after stopping gas transfer to Israel since the government has canceled the agreement in April 2012. Gas export agreement between Egypt and Israel was signed in June 2005 under Mubarak regime. Egyptian government announced that it would appeal the verdict. This money can be used to establish many schools in Egyptian villages.

October War was not only a military victory against Israel, but also a consecration of national unity between Muslims and Christians. The war revealed sacrifice, love and ingenuity of the Egyptians. This war integrated love of homeland and religion. This homeland cares indeed for all Egyptians no matter what their religion is. The list of the martyrs includes names of Coptic Christens as well as Muslims.

America and Europe were turned upside down after the killing of 12 employees at the French newspaper Charlie Hebdo. Security Council held a minute's silence for the victims. President Obama went personally to the French Embassy to offer his sincere condolences. Most Arab leaders offered their condolences, and media has denounced the attack. Moreover, dozens of world leaders participated in the French demonstration to condemn terrorism. Bloodshed deserves all of that, but a number of French observers were surprised that the French newspaper "Twenty minutes" broke the news three minutes after the incident, and Israeli media identified the perpetrators fifteen minutes later!

I think that we, adults, have lost confidence in one another, as we lost confidence in our political parties, words, and activities. Now, we doubt we’re able to achieve something good and inspiring. We don’t see something useful in one another anymore. Therefore, we can only find hope in children. They have the ability to spread happiness everywhere when they play or smile. They don’t realize they are the hope of this nation to eliminate illiteracy and provide food and happiness as well. Yet, they are being killed every now and then by our hands!

In an interview with Al-Ahram newspaper on October 10, Egyptian actor Yehia Fakharani said that art may be Haram or Halal according ot the aim of it like a knife that cut and kill. I wonder how come a great actor like him who has been working for 30 years can’t judge art except through the religious concepts of Halal and Haram which can be easily manipulated by the fanatics who may prohibit it completely.

Harassment is a terrible crime that became more of a disease in Egypt that should be faced by the community in many ways including education and law. We have to cure such illness by changing educational curriculum to fight such ill concepts about women to educate the people that women are in fact our mothers, sisters and daughters that we should protect instead of tease or harass.

The final result of the Egyptian presidential election was officially announced on June 3, declaring a landslide victory for Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, who won more than 23 million votes against about one million votes for his rival Hamdeen Sabahi. In fact, those who voted for al-Sisi or Hamdeen were hoping for a president who can achieve their goals and solve their so many problems.

In the midst of preparing for the presidential election in Egypt, many friends asked me what I would like the next president to achieve concerning the culture in Egypt. In most cases, I answered writers should not be imprisoned anymore for their books and articles as this has become so shameful. Furthermore, all forms of controlling creativity and thought should be no more. I also said that books should by subsidized in order to encourage reading.

In his very first speeches after taking office, Ibrahim Mehleb, Egypt’s Prime Minister, repeated the speech given on July 11 by former Prime Minister Beblawy who promised then to fight terrorism, take care of security, and development projects. Both of them talked generally about crises in Egypt, but the only difference is that Mehleb decided to stop buying mineral water in governmental offices. General speeches doesn’t reveal a plan if existed. Furthermore, they decided to come up with a strange ministry with vague goals and nurture called Ministry of Transitional Justice!

Millions of Egyptians celebrated revolution's third anniversary in the Egyptian streets and Squares, in spite of three explosions few hours before the celebrations began. Squares and streets were full of the people who came carrying the Egyptian flag to celebrate the anniversary of their revolution. The Muslim Brotherhood had issued a statement hours before the celebrations or the attacks in which they apologized to the revolutionary currents “for what they did”. It became clear that they didn’t mean to apologize for their terrorization, assassinations, or inciting sectarian incidents. They tried to send a message saying that they are willing to share power unlike what Morsy’s regime did.

In his article in Shorouk newspaper on December 7, Dr. Ebrahim Esawy invited supporters of January 25 revolution who supported the “military coup” to awaken their consciousness and stop doing so. They are invited to stop supporting the dictatorship of the military against the democracy and citizenship. Practically, this should lead to the idea that the state of democracy and citizenship is apparently that one of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Nothing would return the little girl, Mariam, back after she left the earth to live in heaven. In order to see Mariam, I had to rewind the videotape over and over to see her standing at St. Mary Church in Warraq in her new white dress before terrorists turn it red. She was pure and happy as an eight-years-old child should be. Suddenly, two bearded terrorists appear shooting and killing her innocence. They may belong to the Muslim Brotherhood or any of its supporters who hate this country and worship blood and violence.

In 1902 Tanios Abdu presented the first translation in Egypt for Hamlet, Shakespeare's longest play, which was presented on the stage in 1897. He found out that the audience have never liked its end when Hamlet died. Tanios then decided to change the end and let Hamlet live.

The Muslim Brotherhood group has called for a demonstration against violence last Friday in front of Cairo University. This came after most political forces have agreed to the anti-violence document of Al-Azhar, after which Dr. el-Baradie said he was optimistic. However, the document talks in general about violence denouncement, which of course everybody denounces.

Egyptian public prosecutor has issued a decision to block pornographic websites in Egypt which will cost the state about one hundred million EGP. Sheikh Younis Makhion, leader in the Salafi Nour Party, said that such price is reasonable concerning the devastating effects on national security of such pornographic websites. However, this decision didn't give a specific definition of “pornographic websites”. It could be sites that distribute pure sexual materials, +18 music video website, or even scientific websites about human sexual activity. We don't know what kind of websites they are talking about. I wonder: Is Haifaa Wahbi's song “Bos Al Wawa” included in their list of the material that threaten the Egyptian national security!