Is Egypt suffering from a state of chaos? The answer is definitely yes. But is it going through a dangerous phase? The answer is certainly no. Indeed, chaos, unrest, excess zeal and the desire to break laws and norms, and even morals, has made life in Egyptian society difficult, grueling, frustrating, and painful. Yet none of these things in any case threatens the integrity of the state or its institutions, which are suffering but still working. In short, Egypt still retains the integrity of the state and its institutions, not to mention of course its heritage, its accumulated experiences, and its long history. But life there now, for all segments of society, all ages and all religions, is no longer an easy or comfortable one. Indeed, one requires a great deal of patience, fortitude, and self-control to deal with the constituents of society, its events, its people, and its chain reactions. All politically, socially, and economically active parties before the January 25 Revolution, and also after it, stand accused of driving Egypt to the phase it now finds itself in. Yet what is certain for many people is that the situation now is very much better than what the country could have come to, had the Muslim Brotherhood remained in power, or had Doctor Mohamed Morsi remained in the presidency much longer. Indeed, the state itself was in danger of being lost, and not just security in the country. It was on the verge of complete breakdown, not only in terms of morals and norms, and was headed towards civil war, not a mere confrontation between one faction and the remainder of the people. The real issue is that major state institutions such as the presidency, the government cabinet, the army, the police, and the judiciary are currently being exhausted repairing the damage left behind by the Revolution, the rule of the Military Council and then of the Muslim Brotherhood, at several levels – between implementing the political roadmap, which includes the constitution and parliamentary then presidential elections, preserving the balance between political forces, avoiding the anger of some of them, detecting and confronting conspiracies, cracking down on the Brotherhood's demonstrations and protests, and confronting attempts to obstruct public life and influence the performance of state institutions. This is in addition to confronting terrorism in the Sinai and in other Egyptian cities and provinces. Egyptian citizens have found themselves very often forced to enforce the law themselves, or shall we say enforce their own law, even if at the expense of other citizens or of the state. Egypt will require a lengthy period of time to overcome this phase, on the condition that it implements the political roadmap with precision and transparency, and without making mistakes that would enable the Brotherhood to challenge its procedures, or the West and especially the United States to shed doubt on them. There are no indications that Egypt has yet taken a single step on the road to reform or has drawn any closer to happiness and prosperity. Indeed, the state is busy providing its citizens' bare necessities, keeping their ambitions checked, and dealing with the Muslim Brotherhood. Meanwhile, the political elite worries about looking for spoils: seats in parliament, political clout, or executive positions – while the other side seeks to thwart the roadmap, topple the government, and wreck the future. Yes, it has been exhausted, but its convictions remain unchanged. Thus it believes that it has only lost a round and is always preparing for future rounds, knowing that the state has suffered from the erosion of capabilities over several decades, from the poverty that has stricken its cities and villages, and therefore a large part of its population, and from a lack of values whose preservation would have been certainly alleviated the impact of unrest – both in terms of security and morality. However, this does not negate the fact that, in many cases, creativity springs from the heart of suffering, success comes after failure, and ambition rises from the ruins of frustration. Confusion, unrest, unsound behavior, and "shameful" conduct do not always come as a result of a crisis or after a failed experiment. Indeed, even if life becomes difficult for Egyptians at times, even if they suffer from the flames of conspiracy at other, and even if they are fooled by those they thought friends, as they recently have, by virtue of Egypt's history, its traditional, cultural and practical heritage and accumulated experience, they always have hope of emerging from the quagmire of failure, fear of the unknown, and chaos – in terms of politics, security ...and morality.
