When the state awards were recently announced, I was both happy and saddened at the same time, as the late Dr. "Mustafa Salem" received the state award for excellence in literature, and the late Dr. "Mohamed Anany" received the Nile award in literature. My joy was in them being awarded in appreciation for their well-deserved accomplishments. My sadness, however, stems from the fact that these awards came to them too late. Yes, they are no longer with us and will not benefit from these awards. Some might argue that the awards immortalize their names, and I don't disagree, but wouldn't it be better if the award reached the creator in their lifetime, making them feel valued, providing a morale boost and infusing them with a renewed spirit that enhances their creativity, and at the same time immortalizes their name. The names I mentioned are examples of a recurring and strange phenomenon..!!

Closely related to this, or matching this thinking, is the distribution of awards under labels like "it went to someone because they are old" with the logic that they are close to the grave. Here, we must pose dozens of question marks and exclamations, as numerous shocking questions rush to my head when I read this phrase. Is being "old" a justification for deserving the award over another who is "younger"? Who can guarantee, gentlemen, who will die first and who will live longer?!

Another point: This old person did not receive the award before (when they were younger) because they were deprived of it by the same logic. When they were young and creative, they did not receive it because there was someone "older" who deserved it. And this older person did not get it before when they were younger because there was someone even older... And so, we circle in a void with no room for the genuine moment when the creator deserves the award, the moment that uplifts their morale and boosts their creativity, not the moment approaching the grave, or the moment of honoring "the name" after death.

The matter calls for enlightened minds to stand tall and declare: This creator deserves this award now, at the peak of their activity, and while they are still alive among us. If things were set straight and awards were actually distributed to the deserving due to their creativity, the day will come when no one will have to jump to the name of the late so-and-so, or so-and-so who is old, because they, according to the logic of fair distribution, would have received their awards before and enjoyed them in their lifetime, when they truly needed them.

The young may die before the old, so there's absolutely no justification for rewarding one and leaving another due to age. There's absolutely no need to neglect the creator until they leave our world and then honor their name. They needed this honor in their lifetime.

I am not addressing my words to a specific party, but to a culture prevalent in our Arab world in particular, in various institutions and bodies, in the past decades and current ones. If the "enlightened official" does not move, we will stay this way forever.

The current honoring, gentlemen, is not subject to certain rules as much as it is driven by "whims," and this is the suitable word that matches what we gently call "humanities". It's acceptable beautification, of course, and I do not reject it. But isn't it human to honor this creative person in a timely manner so they can feel their value? Isn't it human to honor the creator among their family members so they can take pride in them during their lifetime? Isn't it human to honor the creator while they are at an important stage of their life and creativity so that concerned institutions pay attention to them, thus increasing their activity and spreading the benefit?!

Let's reorder our cards, let's reorganize our house.. whoever deserves it gets it.. then leaves the stage for others.. and so on.. And I repeat at the end: It's high time for enlightened minds to step in so that the balance of distribution justice is rectified for a lifetime.