Pity the Status Quo
By Iman Tabbara Alayli, Staff Writer

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - I have come to the realization that we Arabs will never develop nor socially nor intellectually, and we will always need someone to tell us what and how to do things down to the smallest detail and what the repercussions are if we refrain from doing so.

This is our driving force: the fear of punishment.

Pity!

We get conceited with titles. It is so important to have the title of a manager, and I am willing to bet my life that mothers and fathers push most of us into engineering and medical fields as well as legal ones just for the title.

I hear them day in and day out saying, “My son will grow up to be a lawyer, a doctor or even an engineer”. It is irrelevant to them what specialty the child would consider or even if this vocation is his/her true calling or fits his/her perception of what s/he one day wants to be.

We never hear them say when my kid grows up, I hope s/he will add something to this status quo of ignorance and limitation in which we live in, as long as s/he has a title. This is the work of parents falling in the trap of competition.

Parents want the best for their kids, and I am one of them. But I will never put my competitive spirit in the way of them achieving who they want to be.

A child can grow up to become a failure of a doctor but still, in the eyes of his/her parents, s/he is still referred to as a DOCTOR.

Not only that, but no one wants to work from the bottom up. It is too shameful to work your way to a well-deserved position.

It means that you are not well-connected.

I recently hired an assistant as smart and motivated as a piece of stale broccoli. I told him choose a cubicle and went about to do my work. When I needed him, I went to the cubicle area only to find that he was not there. So naturally I looked for him. And to my surprise, he had already taken over one of our empty executive offices. Shocked, I asked him why he decided to move in to “his office,” and he had the audacity to answer me back and say that he prefers it like this.

I mean who wouldn’t? I would certainly prefer moving into a sea-view office, working less and getting paid more − but that is not how it works.

Shame on our disillusioned nation.

We flaunt being respectful of liberties and rights when we violate core of these basic rights: the right to choose who you want to become.

I am so angry, for now I know we will always remain as pawns to our parents, society and external powers.

We need basic transformations, and I believe that we are incapable an unwilling to change.

Pity the nation.

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