Postcript Not a Jasmine Garden

A man used to always use his wife as a scapegoat whenever something went wrong. One day, when he made a mistake, he declared again that it's his wife's fault. His friend pointed out that this is not possible as she had passed away one month ago. His reply:"But it would have been her fault if she were around." Friend: "She's dead." He: "That's her fault too".   -Tunisia has some good laws which are though poorly enforced. Citizens learn very quickly whether or not they can keep up their bad habits. Why change if there is no or very little control. I see quite a few young men (even children) riding a motorbike, possessing a touch-screen mobile phone, even though they are school drop-outs, unemployed. Heard several complains about stolen motorbikes or attempted theft. Does the police control ownership? Rumour has it some threat revenge if policemen try to do their job. In order to be more effective the police force needs to be better staffed and equipped. Many say one can't rely on the police for protection and upholding law and order, they too often lack dedication and feel frustrated with their job. In addition, like most Tunisians, they don't like to criticised. Even what is mend to be a constructive suggestion, is quickly misunderstood as unjustified "criticism". Nobody makes mistakes here, even toddlers don't. If you catch someone "with a smoking gun" this guy will quickly declare there is no gun in his hand and point to another person "who fired". Kids react like that,. I watched some throwing stones, picking up some more, when addressed stating they never do this but that boy over there........ I saw a heavily disturbed young man from a broken family walking past and suddenly kicking like a football a cat sitting in front of my door, thinking of nothing bad.

I hit him with my shoe to show him my contempt. One day later, a group of 4 skinny , tall young teenagers walking past my house, kicking a cat. New sport for the brainless, aggressive, result of too much junk fast food? Never viewed anything like it before. They are a disgrace for this country and any civilised society. - The Jasmine Revolution created hopes for a new, open, prosperous, democratic society. It didn't result in a big "Jasmine garden", there is more buying power but just for some. Development inequality between different regions of the country needs to be urgently tackled, citizens there feel left behind. What really shock me is the high rate of 62 percent unemployment among university graduates. Are their diplomas, efforts, expenditures, sacrifices all of no value? Yet you may encounter a surprising choice of the incumbent of post in various offices. The reason is quickly explained, many civil servants installed after the revolution do not possess the right qualification as they obtained their position based on connection rather than merit and I've often been told that if you want a good job, you have to pay for it or remain unemployed. What a waste of good education and intelligence from which the whole country could otherwise profit. In 2015 a Committee for the Prevention of Suicide has been set up,. trying to tackle suicides with a national strategy. 365 cases were reported in 2017, about half concerned persons aged between 20 and 39, many with academic diplomas. The reasons given are depression, mental illness, high unemployment, pressure from the families who often don't understand why their son or daughter remains unemployed with such a high education. One needs to be pretty desperate to commit suicide, the choice of method makes it even more sad (often hanging or self-immolation), so terrible, I am lost for words. The real figures may be even higher as there are social and religious taboos, it used to be the same with Christians, in some countries still is, nobody should discriminate or look down on the families but think about what went wrong in our society that these valuable folks took such a drastic step. By the way, after several years, refusal to bury their corpses on the holly Christian cemetery ground, Christians eventually learnt to accept that anyone with such a desperate state of mind should not be seen a person who committed a mortal sin, which God can not forgive. As the French president put it: If we don't help the young unemployed, they will never forgive us.  Tunisia can only profit from a better society with intelligent solutions, we don't need this commonplace self-centredness, clanism, fraud and corruption but solidarity and dedication and engagement for a country that can be really beautiful.