DAMMAM, 16 August 2006 — With schools shut and the summer in full swing, Saudi youths are left free to roam the streets with an abundance of free time and very little summer activities to involve themselves in, reported the Al-Watan newspaper.

It is in days like this that Saudi youth are seen misusing their free time. While many indulge in harmless activities like playing football others become involved with the wrong type of crowds. The streets of all countries are open to all types of people including the good and the bad, and the old and the young. It is on the streets that a person’s life can be built or destroyed.

Abdullah Al-Jabali, a 60-year-old Saudi, said, “When we were kids, the way we used to meet on the streets and on street-corners never used to disturb anyone. The current generation has, however, lost the know-how of respecting the streets. Teenagers these days do not care about their neighbors and even normal pedestrians.”

Al-Jabali is from the old school and blames satellite television, soaps and movies for the degeneration of society. He remembers a time when he used to sit on the streets of Ahsa and Qatif.

“Streets used to function like schools where people used to learn how to treat each other. In the past teenagers never harassed women. Sitting on the streets we used to learn from other people, from their stories, poetry and experience. It was a refreshing experience altogether,” he said.

Another elderly Saudi is Al-Nujaidi, who remembers the old days when he used to sit with his friends on a bench in front of his home. “At that time, streets were innocent and unlike the situation nowadays. There were hardly any crimes or people with bad habits,” he said.

“From the streets we learned how to care about neighbors and help those in need, we learned how to respect elders, and how to benefit from the experiences of older people,” said Al-Nujaidi complaining that at present the streets have been turned into places where teenagers gather to smoke cigarettes and waste time. “They’ve turned the streets into places for joyriding and vandalism.”

Teenagers on the other hand negate the criticism and say that old people have nothing else to complain about. Abdullah Al-Dossari, a Saudi teen, said that elderly neighbors complain when young kids play football on the streets. “We are not damaging anything. The blame should be put on the municipality for not providing places for youngsters to play. All public places are limited for families only,” he said.

Hussein Jasim criticizes the older generation, who he says become moody when they see youngsters on the street. “They think everything we do is wrong. Streets were different in their time and they think just because they are different now we are to blame. Time has changed and everything has changed with it,” he said.

Jasim added that he believes there are other factors that have been instrumental in changing the character of behavior on the streets, not just the current generation.

Fahd Al-Sallum, manager of student affairs at the General Presidency for Education in the Eastern Province, believes that streets across the Kingdom have become rough places because of parents failing to reprimand their children.

“Families do not criticize their children when they pick up bad habits. The youths are also to blame because they do not try thinking about what is good or bad,” said Al-Sallum. He added that another factor that caused youths to behave inappropriately was the absence of places of entertainment for Saudi youths. With summer under way, perhaps parents should heed the views of Al-Sallum and reprimand their children. Simultaneously, perhaps it would be useful for the authorities to also start laying out plans to involve and preoccupy youngsters.

We see great changes in streets in societies like ours. Streets changed from a safe place where families send their children out to play to a place of fear that families try to prevent their children from going out to. These changes are widely seen in big cities like Jeddah and Riyadh. This had also affected small cities and villages.

A man at the age of 50 could compare the street in the past and present. According to what they said, streets used to be clean and honest during their time (when they were youths) compared to present times.