One young Saudi says that he used to dream of becoming a very rich man so that he could compete with his uncle in the amount of wealth possessed.
The young man remembers how he used to feel jealous and envious of his uncle’s family because of the luxurious life they lived while his own family was in desperate need of money. His father was a very miserly individual who abused and mistreated his family.
When the young man remembers his life five years ago, he grows ambitious and more determined to make a fortune for himself and his family.
At first, he failed to get in to a university so he enrolled in a technical college, thinking he could specialize in a subject that would lead him to make a lot of money. After a short time, he found himself unable to continue studying so he got a number of jobs in different companies and organizations.
Eventually, he turned to selling fruit and vegetables on the side of the road; he worked in disguise since he didn’t want anyone to recognize him, especially his uncle’s family.
Next he considered driving a taxi but he was too young for that. He continued his search looking for something he liked that would make him rich; he failed, however, to find anything and he also failed to earn enough to take care of his basic needs and requirements.
How many young Saudi men have had the same experience or a similar one? Our educational system — in great need of immediate and sweeping reform — consistently fails to produce people with qualifications that fill the needs of the job market.
Young men and women have dreams of what they want to achieve and then they find themselves unemployed and perhaps unemployable. They end up feeling frustrated and having to sacrifice their dreams. There are few things worse for young people than having to admit there is no possibility of achieving what they want to achieve.
Families don’t bring children up to make them realize the importance of objective thinking. They either push them toward something that is beyond reasonable expectations and failure here crushes dreams.
Psychological preparation and realistic thinking are very important for the younger generation, especially in assessing their capabilities and possibilities. They have to understand that their ability to excel is connected to their qualifications and skills and not to their dreams or other people’s success stories.
We don’t want our children to lose faith in themselves or have unreasonable expectations. A young man taking a loan from the bank and then putting all the money into the stock market might become a millionaire after a year or two if he were lucky. But is this a healthy strategy for everyone to adopt? We also don’t want young people to be constantly changing jobs without meeting the challenges they face or taking full responsibility for their successes and failures. They must learn how to make use of the opportunities available to them.
