Summer has arrived and many people are either already outside the country or making final preparations for a journey that will take them to one of the many destinations frequented by Saudis.
At this time of the year, I always find myself worried and uneasy while patiently waiting for reports to come in and tell me of how the vacationers spending their holidays abroad behaved. What happens when the summer is over is that we spend the rest of the year apologizing to others for the bad behavior and rudeness of those travelers.
This year is different from previous ones. Our Muslim nation and Arab countries are going through the most critical period they have experienced in decades. World affairs ominously point to devastating storms on their way to the region that may well spare nothing in their way.
In such circumstances it is our duty to advise those unrestrained and unruly vacationers to consider, for at least once in their life, the critical circumstances the country is passing through. They should suppress their usual carousing and wild behavior and curb their immoral impulses for the sake of their nation and for their country’s reputation. Their country’s name and its reputation are now on everybody’s lips and what is being said is unfortunately not very good.
Things have taken an even nastier turn from the erratic behavior of some of our rich citizens traveling abroad. Some of them offer to pay huge amounts of money just to have some shops open for them after midnight because they long for a special type of chocolate and cannot wait for the shop to open in the morning. Others send a special plane to another country to bring a hairdresser because their wives want to attend a special party. Still others book an entire hotel or whole floors for a stay that may last for a few weeks and for a number of people who could easily be accommodated in a few rooms. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Such irrational behavior provides rich material for the media all over the world, especially those looking for such acts in order to embarrass and defame our society. Acts by a few are blown up and then generalized to include all of us who are members of the society.
We must remind these individuals that Almighty God has given wealth to people to see how they use it and that excessiveness and vulgarity only leads to the disappearance of their wealth. To those grown ups who insist on behaving as if they were adolescents, we say it is time they came to their senses and returned home before it is too late.
