I have just returned from a 3 weeks journey to the Netherlands; this wonderful country where you can smell the aroma of freedom and system. However, I saw it by my Egyptian eye that sought all potential opportunities to dream for a better future for the homeland.
I saw a system that respects everyone and policemen whom you don’t feel their presence until the system or the rules are broken. They respect bicycles and bicyclist above all, and I found this one of the decent means of transportation that saves both money and health! Yet, bicycles enjoy special routes and laws in order to protect the bicyclist from cars and encourage the people to ride them.
The Dutch people have freedom to buy and smoke drugs, and sex shops and clubs are legalized as well. However I didn’t like the smell of marijuana in the streets and would think twice before taking my children in a tour in the streets of Amsterdam; I really appreciated their frankness and clarity of doing in public what everybody does in secret.
In short, the Netherlands is a decent developed European country that respects its people, but we are not poor in Egypt and we have many opportunities that can change our reality if used well.
