I am very surprised at the rapid transformation of Saudi society. Let us take for example the fast changes happening in the stock market and how Saudi men and women are dealing with it.
People are in a frenzy to become involved in the ebb and flow of capital. They are even buying in other people’s names (by offering commission for the use of their family ID cards so they can buy higher quantities of stock, which in Saudi Arabia are capped for investors based on their family size and the level of demand for the particular stock) to increase their profits.
Saudi society is changing. Everybody wants to become rich even if it is at the expense of other people’s dignity. Many parents are now busy monitoring the stock market at the expense of quality time with their children. The sight of stocks going up or down is to them a lot better than watching their children go up and down on playground seesaws. We see people on TV talking about this stock and that IPO. Even sheikhs are getting involved in the market dynamics. Teachers are neglecting their work to watch the stock market. People are neglecting their basic duties in order to make a fast buck in the stock market.
When we go now to the stock hall where buying and selling activities take place, we see old and young people, men and women. Old people that are supposed to be more close to God before they die are closer to their investments. In the past young women used to worry about taking care of their studies, and the goings-on of their community. Now they are fully occupied by the charts that depict the daily, monthly and yearly ups and downs of stock prices.
I know it is the right of people to run after what they think is better for them to improve their qualities of life, but like this? A doctor I know once said to me that a patient of his called his friend at the stock market 15 minutes before he went to the operation room; he wanted to be kept informed of the fluctuations of his portfolio. This man should have worried more about the fluctuations of his health and whether he would live long enough to enjoy the fruits of his investment.
I also feel very sad when I see our young children are no longer the teacher’s top priority. Where is this fast change going to take us? Are we so blinded by the love of money that we neglect our duties? Are our salaries not enough that we search for every opportunity for more? Why does everyone — teachers, doctors, employees and even sheikhs — want to become involved in the stock market?
