I was in sixth grade when the 1967 war broke out between Arab countries and Israel. When the situation began to return to normal and schools reopened, we were asked to gather in the playground, and as we always did in the morning, we stood in lines. Then officials started to hand each student two bags - one contained biscuits and the other sardine cans. Both were really heavy. When we reached home, we discovered that the biscuits were really tasty.

The next day we were asked to do the same but we were somewhat unruly, so teachers intervened and made us stand in lines. Things then went smoothly as the day before and we were very happy to get the same goodies as the day earlier. There were at least 1,500 students at the school then and despite that number, things were almost always organized and went on as planned day to day.

Scenes of people from various countries rushing to get food packages or other necessities in a way that can be only described as appalling are repeated every day. They clamber around trucks as if there is no tomorrow, afraid that the boxes will run out before their turn comes!

I tried to find a description of the scene but did not find a convincing one. Now we are in an unusual situation and must take all kinds of precautions to avoid illness, because one can stay hungry for a day or two, but will not remain alive if he couldn’t breathe for less than five minutes.

One of the most interesting things is that selfishness existed very early in the mind and heart of man on earth. Who among us does not know about the story of Cain and Abel and its tragic end?

The only solution that can keep us living in relative peace and harmony is cooperation for mutual benefit. Cooperation is an excellent tool in which several individuals share in order to get a positive and effective result, and this cooperation must cover all aspects of life, be it political, economic, cultural, scientific and practical. This is a very effective way to strengthen the ethics of members of societies.

Cooperation brings respect between individuals and makes them help each other. In fact cooperation helps reduce poverty and unemployment in a society by investing more, and most importantly, it will do away with selfishness among the society’s members.

Finally:  Almighty Allah says in the Holy Quran: “And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression. And fear Allah; Indeed Allah is severe in penalty,” (5:2)