It will take a long time for the image of Saudi citizens abroad to recover from the damage it continues to suffer. As a result of misconceptions the Saudi character continues to be viewed with hostility by others, who are not necessarily people in the West but can include even those who are close to us geographically and in mentality.
Of late I have visited several Arab countries. Wherever I went I sensed fear and suspicion in the faces of many people I met. Some were glad to see us Saudis under such pressure.
Admittedly we ourselves are to blame for much of the confusion and doubt that surrounds our relations with others and the way they feel toward us.
Yet at Paris airport, when my turn came at the passport counter, the French officer took only a few seconds to stamp my passport. We did not speak because it all happened so quickly, and there was not enough time to exchange even a short sentence. I had expected the opposite. I was bracing myself for a flood of questions, but nothing of the kind happened.
I never thought of concealing my identity. At the hotel, when the receptionist asked to see some identification I handed him my green passport. He left the counter and came back to tell me, sorry, he was unable to provide a room, despite the fact that I had a reservation. But after some argument we reached an understanding and finally I got the room.
Was it because of the green color of the passport and my nationality that the receptionist would not give us a room? Would he have acted in the same way had the person standing before him been one of his own countrymen? What made him change his mind and agree to give us the room in the end? Was it because, as he said, he realized how exhausted my family looked after the long journey? Is it unimaginable that a Frenchman would show compassion for a woman in hijab like my wife despite the fact that his country has declared war on headscarves?
As I said earlier, national stereotyping exists everywhere. We have only ourselves to blame if we allow it to defeat us.
