This story reminded me of writers and thinkers who suffer financially, as they are required to produce an intellectual product for free, and they end up destitute, to the extent that some have become more miserable than the “tarout”, that is, the servant who toils in exchange for food only. Writes Dalia Hadidi
I sat in the café in a place that made me close to a little-known poet, who was openly expressing his distress because one of the singers who published a clip of her insignificant song won half a million likes, while his poem only got 17 likes.
He talked about ignoring his deeds and talking about injustice, then he consoled himself by telling the story of a science student who was hungry one day, so he went to the vegetable market and gave Al-Khodary half a dirham, which is all he owned, and begged him to buy a vegetable.
The seller refused, on the grounds that the purchasing power of half a dirham is weaker than buying any product.
The young man said: I am a student of knowledge and I have a lot of valuable intellect, so give me food so that I return it to you with knowledge?
Al-Khaderji replied: If your knowledge was worth anything, I would complete half of your dirham for you!
The young man was convinced of Al-Khaderji’s hadith, so he decided to leave science and search for manual labor to support himself. The scientist lost his student, so he went to see him, so the student told him of the decision to leave science, so the teacher gave him a golden ring.
The poor man went with the ring to sell it in the gold market, so the jeweler accused him of theft because it was impossible for a poor young man to acquire jewelry of this value.
The goldsmith accompanied the student to his teacher to prove his innocence, so the goldsmith bought the ring from the student for a hundred thousand dinars, and after that, he returned to the lessons of knowledge, and his teacher asked him:
Which markets did you want when you thought of selling the ring?
He said: The gold market.
His sheikh said: And if you go to sell it in the vegetable market, it will lose the price of the ring because the vegetable seller is ignorant of the value of the minerals.
This story reminded me of writers and thinkers who suffer financially, as they are required to produce an intellectual product for free, and they end up destitute, to the extent that some have become more miserable than the “tarout”, that is, the servant who toils in exchange for food only.
There is no name in the dictionaries for those who work for a wage that is not sufficient for them, or for those who work without pay, which means that the creative majority has become lower in status than the giants!
Many writers need to publish their work, while the publisher wants a writer who is less than a stump.
The writer’s dowry is a non-binding promise of appreciation. The writers and creators did not dream of throwing the “players”, but they wanted the appreciation of the stadium fans!
The intellectual wraps himself in the cover of knowledge in order to pave the way for the family of honor, but he ends up with Khaled al-Dikr under the bed of the open!
The writer writes, hoping that his “travels” will remain after him, only to be surprised that he himself has lived before death. Rather, he died of suffocation, breathing knowledge that does not quench his evil through the arteries of material life!
There is no doubt that the creator is rich because he possesses what money cannot buy, but the paradox is that they crave criticism and do not find it. And in the past, they used to describe those who practiced writing as “the scourge of literature” and as if they were ill!
The writer is the neediest, but he is executed, while the player is the richest, and then he is honored.
This one triggers his thought and denies it, and that one shoots with the soles of his feet and is glorified!
It seems that the mind’s load of ideas makes the paper trade stagnant, and then the intellectual despaired of waiting for a prize for his creativity, but rather despaired of being tweeted about success on a rainy morning, hoping that the nightmares of bills, installments, and other obligations would leave him.
To escape the harshness of the title “Al-Adrout”, the writer resorts to working in various professions in search of a decent life or to spend on his creative work, which is not rushed by an editorial secretary.
Does the reader believe that “Badr Shakir al-Sayyab,” who turned the scales of Arabic poetry, worked as a porter, as a gourmet and as a customs officer?
As for Amal Dunqul, he has always struggled to provide his daily sustenance? Then how does it come to Al-Mazni to write that introduction to his book “The Wildfire Harvest”?
This is a collection of articles, sold for ten piasters no more, and I swear to you that you are buying the juice of my mind, albeit crude, and the effort of my nerves at the lowest price! There are more than forty articles in the book of varying length, shortness, depth and shallowness, and you buy all four of them for a penny!
The artist “Van Gogh” lived in turmoil, and he had to throw some of his works into the fire to keep warm.
As for Al-Jahiz, he worked in a bakery during the day, and guarded a library at night, and he kept reading books by candlelight, until his eyes popped out.
May God have mercy on every creative person who struggles to distance himself from the title “Atrout” while living through human tragedies that lack ink.
Dalia Hadidi is an Egyptian writer
Al-Watan
