A few weeks ago when I was back in Cairo, I had an intense encounter that nearly ended my life. More so than being a terrifying experience, it forced me to make a difficult decision. That being, whether to stay true to my beliefs and risk death in the face of a home made gun in the hands of a crazy old bigot or to give in and comply with his prejudice ideals for the sake of saving my own skin.
It was a typical morning in Cairo, a cacophony of deafening honks and shouts from all directions, and a palpable amount of pollution in the air. As usual, the first thing I did that day was walk to my favourite
sugar cane juice bar near Nasser subway station. After two cups of cane juice I was ready to commence the mission of the day, that being to find a bicycle for purchase.
Just as I left the juice bar, a group a three kids surrounded me. “Here we go,” I thought irritably, “time to pay the toll.” However, to my surprise, the little buggers didn’t ask for money. And it appeared that all they wanted to do was hang out. Although my Arabic was lacking, I managed to tell them that I was looking for a bike to buy. Upon hearing this, the kids, happy to be useful, took me by the hand and briskly began leading me towards what I hoped would be the bike district of Cairo.
After checking out a multitude of bike shops and not finding anything suitable for the 700k bike trip to Aswan I was planning, I was ready to return to the comfort of Talaat Harb, the familiar district of my hostel. The sun was beginning to set and we still had a ways to go before exiting the maze of alleys and dirt roads that the kids had led me into.
Suddenly, and out of nowhere, an old, small, and sparsely haired and toothed man appeared.
As I have had quite a few encounters with crazy racist people, I was more amused than startled. Despite an urge to confront him and his ignorance, I bit my tongue and continued walking.He pointed at me with his left finger and yelled accusingly, “Israeli?!?”
Around ten feet away, I heard a gasp from one of the kids. I swiftly turned around and immediately froze.
“So that’s what was rolled up in that news paper in his right hand, a long barrelled home made gun!”
With little time to think, I went with my instinct. My instinct in this case was poorly thought out and a little absurd. I decided I would match his craziness and charge him.
I walked aggressively towards the man, rolled up my left sleeve, and revealed my Norwegian flag tattoo while simultaneously making a muscle in front of his face. For those of you who don’t know, the Norwegian flag is essentially a Christian cross.
Then I said to him in a condescending tone, “No Israeli, Norwegian,” while pointing at the cross.
At this act of bravado, his temperament completely changed and he mockingly made a slight bow before me.
I was astonished and unbelievably relieved that it had worked.
Still full of adrenaline I began to walk away, my confidence dissipating with each step. Around 10 paces away, I heard the gasps of the kids and onlookers. I glanced back and saw that he had his gun leveled at me once more. But this time, his eyes shone an even more sinister glare.
Not wanting to lose face and run, I merely quickened my stride, all the while fearing that at any moment I could take a bullet in the back. To my relief, one of the kids grabbed my hand and said, “ run, run, yala, yala.” “The hell with it,” I thought, “I’m getting out of here!” and sprinted away like a cheetah (the animal I always envision when I sprint).
That night and in the days following, I continued to play the encounter through my mind. I began to feel more and more ashamed.
Although I had survived, I had done so at the cost of my morals. I myself had acted prejudice. I validated his anti-Israeli anti-semitic sentiment by taking the effort to prove that I was not Israeli. I had survived but had done so by lowering myself to his bigotry.
Was it wrong of me?
What would you have done?
Leif…
me i can tell you truth that make you slepp good in night.
In Torah- jewish holy book you know- it is written : “The peoples shall live trough this words and not die through this words”
That meaning: if bad peoples want to kill you or do you very bad things- in extrem situation you are allowed as a jew to say even : “no, iam not jewish” to secure your life. But in your heart you must have important good morals. So even for the jews the jews belive they can say a lie to the outside if it dangerous for life.
So you, norwegian not jew make no mistake. It Always better to stay in life if not make harm to other peoples than die- and not able be to make good change in life !
But- i in position of you with bad man with pistol, i make different move :
Me, i take off pants and pee- this make nuts man not understand and confuse. Than you go away buy falafel.
I didn’t know that, thanks for letting me know, that is interesting. Next time I WILL pee on him!
I enjoy your stories. However, with all due respect, I’d recommend reading up a bit about the history of Israel’s on going persecution of the peoples of the Middle East. Egypt has suffered a lot. You don’t know what that old man might have lived through. There are many Israeli agents wrecking havoc there, especially recently with the so called Arab Spring. Of course he was wrong, but it’s not right to call him a bigot as that suggests his feelings have no justification whatsoever. But as you experienced, the Islamic peoples are no innocents either. Take care out there! ;)
Hey Joe, assalam wa allykum ha bibi. I totally hear ya. I generally don’t take sides on this issue. I hope it didn’t come off that way in the article. I love Egyptians and Israelis but only when they aren’t fighting. I understand what you’re saying though. Point taken. He might of been the victim of something terrible in his youth. Now he’s an old man though. Most would forgive and forget at his age. This leads me to believe that he was pretty nuts. If you had seen him, you would have described him as a bigot as well I think. Especially because even after I showed him I was Norwegian he was still agressive. He just wanted a fight. I didn’t write the article to portray Egyptians in a bad light. This actually happened. And don’t worry, I will have some good stories coming up on how crazy Israelis can be as well. Shalom -Leif
Wow! Interesting to read about your experience. I’ve had to lie before to get out of situations where I didn’t feel comfortable telling the truth. You definitely did the right thing.
That’s a fucking crazy story. Well written.
Oh Leifer’s you make my hands sweat!!
I don’t think that kind of person is the one that we can argue or debate with on intellectual level. So I believe that you’ve made the right the decision. However I imagine if I were you, my heart would have pounded really fast.
I think you’re right. And my heart was pounding out of my chest.
that was nothing worth dieing for you did the right thing your alive be happy for it i would never be able to do anything like that you did the right thing Your alive right!!!
You did not do anything wrong. Anyone who wanted to live would’ve done the same thing. Nice job bro.
I’d think about it like a chess game.
You just put your queen out in the path of a pawn.
It’s your move.
If you lose that queen, game over.
Do you gain anything out of standing up to the pawn and taking a hit?
Nope.
Get the hell out.
Good call man. If you got blasted by some fool in Cairo, who would keep me entertained with kick ass travel blogs?
:)
Another class post Leif. Thanks mate.
Aint that the truth, good analogy.
Tough call… It would be hard for anyone to know exactly what to do. Glad you’re safe though!
I think what you did was nothing to be ashamed about. He was the one pointing a gun in your face. His bigotry wouldn’t have gone away if he shot you.
You saved your own skin. If some racist held a knife to my neck and asked me if I was Chinese, and I showed them a Korean passport, it doesn’t make me a prejudiced person.
Hey Jazz, hahah, true. That’s a good analogy/parallel. When you put it like that, I don’t feel so bad.
Kind of a moral paradime. I don’t think you could have done it better, be glad you’re alive.
Yea, thanks. I kind of understand how a Jew trying to survive in Germany during ww2 might have felt.
That moment wasn’t worth dying for. Good call. You can stand up to bigotry later, when talking to people who can learn.
You’re totally right. Even though part of me wanted to, nothing good would have come of it if I had pretended to be Israeli and confronted him.