Is this respect or disrespect ?? I need to know

Egyptians are well known for their respect for the elderly. If at anytime or place you happen to meet a senior citizen here in Egypt, he/she will usually be receiving a great deal of respect. Even if the man or lady is annoying, the people will still bear with him out of respect.
A strange phenomenon is spreading quickly in Egypt that I can't figure out why is that happening, with every traffic light or in any given street you'll find an old man/woman begging for money. This phenomenon is quite obvious in Ramadan, as it's a charity high season.
What I want know is: are these people in the streets out of respect or disrespect ? Have they known the egyptians' respect for the elderly besides their compassion for the needy and wanted to make use of that combination ? Or are they out because of their stone-hearted sons and daughters ?

I beleive such phenomenon is worth studying.

Ramadan Kareem

Happy Ramadan. I hope all muslims around the world get to know more and practice even more the true teachings of Islam. I really hope I can recharge my spiritual battary during this holy month.

A couple of questions

In the memory of the 9/11 attacks , I have a couple of hypothetical questions going through my mind:
1) If someone other than Bush was the US president, will he have taken the same decisions of setting the whole world on fire ?
2) If these attacks hadn't took place in the first place, will Bush have started this war on terror ?

I don't have answers for these questions, but I can't stop thinking about them.

When you really need it

Today I'm suffering some sort of Laryngitis ( that is inflamation of the larynx ) which lead to the total loss of my voice.
I had a list of important phone calls to make. I just have to postpone them.

Waiters can do more :)

Yesterday I was in a birthday party of one my best friends. It was held in a beutiful place by the side of the nile. The weather was good & the company wasn't that bad. The people at the party were mostly old school mates whom I haven't met for a few years. They aren't close friends, so I like keeping the relation with them at that level. I can see them every year or a few long months.
As you all know, usually the waiters/waitresses at any restaurant just take the orders, serve the food & get you your cheque. Luckily , I was saved by one yesterday.
I was eating my dinner, I was terribly hungry as I was fasting, when all of a sudden I'm engaged in a lousy conversation with someone I haven't seen or heard from for more than 3 years. I had nothing to tell him, I wanted to eat & he just wanted to talk. I couldn't turn my head away, so I just listened and responded with knodding my head and sounds like mmmmmm, aaah. Till a waiter came in between us , as he wasn't sitting right beside me, at this point I turned back to my plate and continued my dinner as if I wasn't talking or anything. When the waiter was gone, I didn't look back to that guy.
I enjoyed my meal so much. I wanted to thank that waiter.

Work Harder & Get Ready

In Arabic we have a saying " من كان يريد واعظا فالموت يكفيه ", which transaltes " whoever needs a preacher, death is enough ".
Y am I saying this, becoz in the past couple of days there have been a few deaths for celebs in Egypt. The 95 year old Noble prize winner Naguib Mahfouz & three 22 year old football players.
This is just a reminder, death can knock our door at any time. It doesn't matter if you are old or young.
Does this mean that we should let our lives and live like monks ?? Certainlly not, we must work and work harder to acheive something in our lives. But at the same time bearing in mind that we can be out of this world in a matter of seconds.
We should try to stop commiting our sins, worship more and have faith in ALLAH.