“You’ve got to see what my crazy father is doing,” Mojo said when I woke up this morning.
He showed me the photo on his Ipad. Superman was sitting in Tahrir Square protesting President Morsy and his constitution. His slogan was simple and to the point. “NO.”
My eyes brimmed with tears.
“Egypt has been a Muslim country for fourteen hundred years,” my father-in-law had told me during his visit. “We don’t need an Islamic government telling us how to behave.”
Mojo’s family holds Egypt’s memories. Since the beginning of time, his mother’s family has lived in Egypt. Her great, great-grandfather was the Grand Mufti of Cairo married to Rifa’a al-Tahtawi’s sister. Al-Tahtawi wrote about the patriotic responsibility of citizenship and how a divided Egypt would fall to outside invaders.
For generations, Superman‘s family married into the royal family, acted as military officers, and managed the royal land. His father was a senator who drafted legislation to turn land over to the fellahin. His presence in Tahrir Square, the garden of his youth, is a positive sign. This 78-year old man represents generations of moderate, tolerant, Egyptians.
The light of his ancestors shines on him.
Tales of Dragons, Rabbits and Roosters 