AVENUE OF SPHINXES: CAIRO IS UNDULY BOGGED DOWN WITH ANCIENT EGYPT.

ICHEOKU says when will the leaders of Egypt wake up to take their own destiny with their both hands and start thinking about their own legacy instead of the excessive time and resources being wasted on digging up Egypt's ancient civilization. All the ruse about tourism and providing work for archaeologists to do notwithstanding, how about leaving the ancient ruins alone where they are and moving to establish things for the present and future Egyptians to enjoy and treasure. Why the never ending digging up of ancient remains and civilizations built by the old Egypt? 

Why this misplaced priorities that instead of building a new Egypt, putting in place legacy structures for the coming generations to inherit, does the government in Cairo obsess itself with such distraction which does not really add anything of value to the average Joe Egyptian's life; other than the distant possibility of a trickle down income from ogling tourists whenever Islamist terrorism permits them to visit. It is just too much of a distraction that the government seems to have lost focus on what present and future Egypt need most, an Egypt that is competitive in a world where only the best survives and thrives.

ICHEOKU is not writing this piece because of any antagonism against archeology or what archeologists do; but so much resources are being wasted digging up Egypt and disturbing the peace of the past Egyptians. Such skewed effort takes the government focus off what is more important for the lives and happiness of the present Egyptians as well as building things for the future Egyptians to inherit and treasure. Instead of figuring out how to keep the train rolling to the next station, they are busy fiddling with how ancient Egyptians moved about before there were trains. Why disturb the peace of ancient ruins and resting places?

It is only in Africa that such abuse of ancestral resting places are on overdrive, showing no respect to the forebears and devastating what made them who they are. A native America will kill you if you dare disturb their ancestral burial grounds. There are some road construction and pipelines laying that were forced to stop because they were to pass through such sacred sites; and in some cases, large amounts were paid first relocate these cemeteries before construction could continue. So, why is Africa and in this particular case, Egypt, so violative of its ancestral places in the name of feeding tourism. So, a few tourists will come and they will spend some money and then what? 

A case made even worse because majority of the tourists, Europeans and British, do not have their own burial places being dug up in similar fashion. Who has excavated the British Stone Henge pr dug up William Shakespeare or any of the warring kings of Britain and Europe. So why Africa? Is it laziness that is fostering this practice of an easy way out, such that instead of being creative and inventive, Africa has become so inseparably entwined with their past that it spends valuable time digging up and disturbing such solemn places. If Egyptians spend all their time enamored with their past, when will they find time to prosecute their present and pursue their future? 

Drooling on or relieving their glorious storied past is definitely anathema to creating legacies for their future generations to treasure and enjoy. What does the present crop of leaders in Egypt want posterity to remember them for, as those who dug up ancient Egypt but did nothing to ingrain their own time around on earth? If those past Egyptians did not work hard living their life and creating these legacies then, what will these crop of loafers be unearthing today? But if they must dig, at least let it not be their ancestors and their burial grounds. Other countries, when they dig, only dig for skeletal remains of extinct animals such as dinosaurs, but never their ancestors or their sacred burial grounds. 

What is happening in Egypt is of serious concern and in this days of three dimensional printing, computer generated images and other scientific empowered abilities, most of these Egyptological stories could be easily recreated and replicated without digging up and disturbing the peace of people of ancient Egypt. They should be allowed to rest undisturbed and unbothered having completed their sojourn on earth. They did their time and have gone and should be left to enjoy their earned crossover in peace. Enough of the avenues of this and that everywhere in Egypt as the world is changing too fast and before too long, nobody will be interested in seeing all these ancient things and if they must, they can do so virtually. 

But whatever might end up being the case, Africa needs to wake up and start looking forward and stop dawdling in their past. Other nations have established stations in space and making serious effort to visit and colonize Mars. They are also inventing and manufacturing things for the future, including electric vehicles that will finally someday dispense with gasoline; but Africa is still busily moored in its past. It is definitely not progressive and retrogressive thinking has never bettered anybody's lot. If what Egypt is doing is a good thing, why are other countries and nations not similarly digging up their own past; or is Egypt the only country that has a past? It is sad.