Congratulations to all of the countries holding one of the new 7 wonders; and especially to Jordan for making Petra one of them. It is truly something to be proud of.

Anyway. Some people say that the whole election for re-making new 7 wonders, is nothing but a scam to bring Bernard Weber some fame. Whether this is true or not, I cannot judge myself.

But still these new 7 wonders are controversial. Do some of the newly elected wonders deserve to be named so?

Let us take it in timeline:

Chichén Itzá – 800
Christ Redeemer - 1931
The Great Wall of China – 221 B.C
Machu Picchu – 1450
Petra – 9 B.C
The Roman Colosseum – 82 
The Taj Mahal – 1648

From here I can see that only Petra and The Great Wall of China deserve the title. Obviously they are the oldest two in the group. They are truly wonders for standing still from the day they were built until today. Again taking it from a timeline perspective, they cannot be compared to Taj Mahal or Christ Redeemer. But that does not mean not to have respect for each and every one of them, they are after all historical monuments and building, and they played a major role in history. We should learn about them, and not lessen their values and what they hold as human heritage.

Now coming to Egypt and the Pyramids of Giza. Whether we like it or not, the Pyramids are one of the modern world wonders and the ancient world as well. They were constructed in the 25th century B.C., but do the Egyptians have the right to pull the Pyramids out of the election just because they are competing with The Statue of Liberty or Eiffel Tower?

In my opinion they have no right whatsoever to take the Pyramids out of the election; had they not, we would have been gladder celebrating two Arab countries holding two of the greatest wonders in the world.

Now I was reading Who-Sane’s blog: To Whom it may not concern, and I was referred by him to an article in Al Arabia about the whole election thing. Reading the article and the comments following it, I was really ashamed. Most of the comments hold envy and hatred towards Petra and the rest 6 wonders, and in my opinion this is simply wrong. Instead of blaming the whole world, they should blame the ones responsible for taking the Pyramids out of the election in the first place. I am with the Pyramids being one of the new wonders, but I am against the Egyptians’ reactions towards Petra, I am not saying they should be happy for Jordan or the Jordanians—and they should be—at least have some respect, and be proud that an Arab country made it through. I know that if it was the other way around, we would have celebrated the Pyramids and would have been happy for Egypt as well.

One last thing: announcing new 7 wonders does not mean forgetting about the old ones. It is true that some do not exist now, but we should learn about them for they are an important part of history.

Again, congratulations to Jordan and to Petra :D