You know you are in Egypt, when a total stranger offers you gum on the bus, initiates a conversation out of nowhere, or shares with you his life story without you even asking. Of all our lists of the things that foreign countries have that we don’t, this is one thing they lack that we are rich in; the warm gestures that make us feel at home, the little things that have the power to shape every other occurrence. You could be walking down the street lamenting about how this really isn’t your day, and find someone offering you a lift, relieving that feeling of despair with this one simple sign that the world is good again. Lipton recently released a song as part of their Do-Good Campaign, to encourage each and every Egyptian to initiate a sweet gesture, and start an endless chain of good deeds. You could be the start of something beautiful.
The song ‘The first person’ (???? ????????) is Lipton’s collaboration with evergreen singer Hany El-Dakkak, who shares this vision of spreading joy through small helpful acts. It is a collective masterpiece that groups together a selection of situations, originally sent to Lipton by 10 Million+ Egyptians on the hashtag #ElhadElAwalany (The First person.) The huge response to this earlier Lipton campaign is what initially inspired the idea of a song; made by the people and for the people.
Vocalized by Dakkak’s soothing voice, this upbeat track narrates situations that have all started with one random act of kindness, and later extended to a series of smiles on people’s faces.
The lyrics highlight how we can leave a remarkable impact on another person’s day with something we wouldn’t even guess would matter, and then that person passes on the kindness to a third person and so on, creating a chain of kindness; and that is how goodness circulates. Positivity is a wandering free spirit that can’t be held in one place. With each incident, your turn comes to make a move and pass it on; smile, help someone in need, patch things up with your wife, or even just listen when someone shares a story. A message, that this 2 minutes’ song so perfectly conveyed.
