It’s undeniable that Power has a magnetic attraction, as Leaders are constantly on the hunt, racing for chairs and positions. We as a nation have a thing for chairs, which is perceived to be oddly ridiculous. For some piece of Wood, plastic or iron, merely a raw material, when a sitting object has been sought otherwise. Meaning is transferred, function is altered, and the most extravagant definition is bestowed on these solely, namely and simply: chairs.
So often that I notice at the metro station people fighting, actually swearing, pushing one another, losing all aspects of civility just to get a seat for no longer than 15 to 20 minutes. Pathetic, don’t you think? Yet this behavior has always and ever been justified by being tired, needing rest or by the assumption of being privileged, which justifies their claim to have a free ticket to seize those chairs. Yet I’ve seen those who willingly give it up for others, seemingly needier and entitled to have it. Though these exact same people have already been hustling, pushing and craving just to get to that chair and then by treacherous gallantry give it up.
Gazing at the core of the situation, it seems as if having the privilege of seizing the chair even for few minutes, gives them greater pleasure, even though they willingly give it away later on. At least it bestow them with such credit, promoting their self-worth and granting them mere satisfaction. For both having the chair and being indulged with the ability to master its fate and thus define its next holder, grants them such pride.
As such, in busses, trains and waiting rooms, chairs seems to be the center of attention, the prize to be hunted and the throne to be claimed. Even in schools the rush for the seats in the back of the class grant such comfort and brazen ego to their holders. Thus is the seizing of the first seats in universities. Plainly, it’s the mere value granted to a certain position to such a meaningless accessory as a chair, allowing it to become an aim to be chased. Thus social norms derivate and show naked it’s stereotypical materialism. It is merely true and generally acknowledged that "people do not seek the good in life but the goods thy can call their own".
Being so obsessed that such a claim can bestow a person with such power and self-warship as if a new land has been conquered and as if a lost treasure has been restored. To be honest I only feel sympathetic with such perception but even more, I feel embarrassed to witness a country that I so intimately acknowledge to be my own and I so deeply love, being so shamefully condescending. I can’t bare the sight lest the thought that we’re allowing ourselves to be so vulnerable to diminishing temptations. Drifting from the bulk of every situation and focusing on the slightest meaningless trivialities, while the fire is eating us up, damaging our country inside out.
Yet even more, turning our greatest principles to delusions. It is as useless as its ashes, a country that doesn’t teach what it preaches, ruled by leaders who can merely talk the talk and shrink to their own fearful shadows unable to walk the walk. Claiming the prestige of being a leader and denying the duties accustomed to the job. As it is so commonly said "with great powers comes great responsibilities" so is having the best seat in the house. The father most often claims the head of the dining table, partly because we live in a patriarchal society, but most considerably because the greatest tasks are casted upon him.
Charged with management and nerve-racking tasks, the boss consequently gets the bigger desk, the most comfortable chairs, so is anyone entitled with respect, allegiance and loyalty is therefore indebted to give of himself more than he receives, more than expected and as much as he indulge himself to get.
To summon the phenomenon, it’s unalterable to notice Tunisian’s insecurities, their longing for power and their craving for it, which is merely blindness enhanced by low self-esteem. To be true to ones’ self I may not generalize. For I’ve seen generosity and high mindedness so often that it still surprises my humble awareness that such good heartedness could exist equally escorted by such greed and shallow perception.
I only hope that bringing the issue to the surface may grant it some intention to be considered and tackled as critically as it should. For probably by altering one’s self to seek greater aims may inspire greater change. As I beg you to seek wiser perception and just see chairs as significantly as their nature indulge them to be, that is merely chairs.