RIYADH, 20 March — Young Saudis have adopted from the West the principles of crude materialism and have exaggerated them to the point of parody — rather as the hit series Beverly Hills 90210 showed American teenagers living as if the main point to their existence was only showing off their designer clothes, flashy cars and mobile phones. What more could there possibly be to life?
Jude is a 20-year-old university student who lives in Riyadh. When asked to talk about what makes her and her friends happy, she said: “Many of my friends think that getting a new mobile phone or living in a big house with a swimming pool is everything; but at the same time, they are always complaining about things they can’t get or do — like taking a holiday to Paris. I think it’s a shame we’ve lost sight of the fact that what should make us happy is the small things in life — for me things like hearing my baby sister laughing, or seeing my family come together during Eid.”
Rawan, a secondary school Saudi teacher, commented: “I teach mathematics to teenage girls and I listen carefully to their conversations when I overhear them in the playground and when they are chatting in the school corridors. I have discovered that the only subjects interesting for them are material possessions: clothes, cars, holidays — anything related to having superficial fun. I am trying to help them understand that happiness can be found in anything: if you are absorbed by discovering the solution to a maths equation, you will understand the kind of patience and reflection needed to solve the problems encountered in daily life.”
Watching a stream of running water; hearing the birds sing; marveling at Allah’s creations: it’s just not as exciting as wearing a designer watch and buying diamonds and jewelry!
