In the past couple of weeks, the primary topic of conversation on just about everybody’s lips has been the state of affairs of our stock market. A rapid decline in share prices has obviously agitated many who had invested heavily, and some without money of their own in this speculative venture.
And that has given rise to a chorus of calls, some as high up as the Shoura Council, for the government to intervene and set matters straight. Calls for new regulations to weed out the sharks or ‘hamoors’, fact-finding committees, or advisory bodies to determine what went wrong are coming from those who were playing the field.
But the reality is that in a free-market economy, such calls should fall on deaf ears. Where indeed was this howling and bellowing when stocks were on rapid rise, often without a sense of rationale or justification? Why were the very people who are so insistent today on government intervention so silent then when the market values of their shares were ballooning beyond reason, and incomes beyond reason being realized?
I wonder just how would they have reacted had the government indeed stepped in then. You would have probably heard howls of indignation and cries of government interference then. But we are very quick to put out of our minds such concerns when they increase the value of our bank accounts or our personal sense of well-being.
In a similar vein, in a gathering some time back, several fathers were lamenting the government’s lack of intent on enforcing strict traffic laws and punishing offenders. Yet these whiners were the same people who had ostentatiously equipped their teen-age kids with the fastest of vehicles and left them on the road to create mayhem. Playing Russian roulette with your child’s life is one thing and totally within your control, but wanting and expecting the government to correct your misdeeds is another.
Then there are those parents who are continuously calling for government involvement in matters relating to education. Complaints about the intensity of the curriculum, the hardships their children suffer, the excessive breaks and vacations are matters that pique them. While there are a few issues in the curriculum that could be reviewed by the Ministry of Education and worked out, that in itself is not all of the problem.
Just how many parents are actually on the ball when it comes to reviewing their children’s school workload and their progress?
How many parents ensure that bedtimes are enforced on their growing children? How many parents are seriously involved in any of this?
Based on the number of late-night revelers during all days of the week among which are a sizable number of children, the answer is “not too many”.
Yes, we can all clamor for government intervention when it suits us. But when the day comes that the government feeds us, clothes us, changes our underwear and puts us to bed, then that would be the day that I would put up with such interference.
Until then, let me recognize and admit that I am responsible for such events and their consequences, and that no amount of external activity is going to correct the results of my own actions. Isn’t it time to grow up and stop playing the martyr?
