Recently a young, reckless and unlicensed driver in Madinah plowed into a group of schoolgirls, killing two and injuring several others. These kind of things are happening more and more frequently; we are naturally horrified by them and express surprise at how such things could happen here. The incidents are reported and discussed in the local media and then they slowly fade away, until something else equally sad and tragic happens and the whole process begins again. It seems all we do is wring our hands and lament; we never take any action. Our reasons for not doing so elude me.
For a long time I have heard people talking about the dangers posed by some badly brought-up boys who hang around girls' schools; either they loiter menacingly or they drive dangerously. On weekends, their numbers increase and they are out like packs of hungry wolves on the streets and in shopping malls. Even the sanctity of the last 10 nights of the holy month of Ramadan evidently has no meaning for them; I have actually seen them follow cars with women inside and try to force the cars to stop - and this when the women had just left the mosque after Salat Al-Qiyam.
Only last Thursday night I witnessed a bizarre sight in Riyadh in the Azizia Panda parking lot. As my wife, son and I were crossing the road, a car suddenly stopped in front of us and a skeletal young boy wearing seven-colored trousers jumped out. He shook his hips, made a strange noise and then got back into the car. We gazed at him in amazement.
All kinds of cars, from the latest luxury models to old beat-up ones, were slithering around the area. The boys inside them jumped up and down on the seats, making the cars rock back and forth like ships in a storm. My son asked: "Baba, where are their fathers?" I could not give him an answer because I was as puzzled as he was. I am sure, however, that their fathers were somewhere - smoking sheeshas, playing cards with their friends, relaxing somewhere with little thought for what their sons were doing. Everything about the scene - from misbehaving boys to absent parents - was pathetic.
This is not a problem for the police or for the religious authorities. It is first and foremost a family problem, and the solution lies within the family. It is too easy to blame the authorities as people usually do; after all, that gets them off the hook and absolves them of any responsibility. But if the father is out with his friends and the mother is socializing with hers, are the authorities at fault? Is it really the authorities' fault that these young men constitute a danger to themselves and a greater one to society?
I don't think so. Why get married and have children if you are not going to bring them up properly? Why bring people into the world and then in effect throw them out? Yes, the parents lavished upon them toys, cars and tickets to travel. And those who cannot afford such things give their children freedom from supervision and freedom to do nothing.
I wanted to ask those boys in the streets of Riyadh if their parents had ever taken them out for a drive or to a restaurant or ever discussed anything with them. How many of those parents have ever considered enrolling their sons and daughters in an English language or computer institute? These are the same parents who scream about Saudization and how their children can't find jobs. Yet some knowledge of English and a few computer skills are certainly assets when it comes to looking for jobs.
Too many parents close their eyes to the fact that they have raised unemployable, undisciplined children who are a threat to the country's well-being. There have to be some changes, and they will not occur unless we admit there are problems.
Just as there is a "Traffic Week," I suggest that we also have a "Parents' Obligation Week." During that week, parents would be careful to fulfill their parental obligations, and who knows? Perhaps both parents and children would find it a new and pleasant experience and so continue it. Then we would surely see far fewer scenes such as the one I have described in Riyadh and no incidents at all like the horrible one in Madinah. May God protect our youth and our nation. Ameen.
