Bread for the Baker and Meat for the Butcher
(Nan Bo Nanawa Goshtish Bo Qasab)
It is really important in the West today to depend on specialists and to let everyone do what he or she is good at, but in the East this is not possible: you have a doctor driving a taxi, or an engineer pushing a cart. Corruption doesn’t allow us to use the right person in the right place.
In Iraq, they used to call the various directors of the medical, engineering, and artistic professions the greatest leaders and history makers, and they did not even have college degrees. But from Kurdish experience, [our future] will not be [any different], since there is no possibility for development, and we won’t see any stability til they let our bakers bake bread and our butchers prepare meat. If this doesn’t happen, we will see more corruption and our lives will become more and more miserable. Especially when:
Fools are ruling
The blind are leading
The ignorant are teaching
The racists are preaching
The solution is simple and easy: each one, recognizing his own ability, works to the best of his ability and uses his talent to do whatever he can. As the Prophet said, “God have mercy on someone who strives to know himself or herself and [to] recognize his abilities and limitations.”
Once someone understands this proverb, and also takes to heart the other Kurdish proverb (“A Rock Is Strong in Its Place”), one is not going to cause harm, because he will come to have a better sense of self-respect and recognition of his own capacity.
I hope and wish many of our leaders and politicians come to believe this, and I will be glad to see many of them honoring themselves by resigning from office!
Posted April 19, 2008
Previous Proverb * * Proverb Home * * Next Proverb