WHOEVER ponders the current condition of Saudi society will realize that we need to look inward, debate issues affecting us and — with courage and transparency — place all our problems on the table.
If one looks at the history of Saudi society during the past 25 years, one realizes that we have forgotten our social values and become preoccupied with the affairs of others. Society has focused its attention on others and became oblivious of its own.
During the past years, we have been busy giving advice to others, reforming their economies and publishing what we believe to be correct. We have traveled here and there on the pretext of purifying and correcting the faith of others.
All these activities gave us an inner feeling that we are right in all respects. It gave us a feeling of supremacy, which we began to refer to as the Saudi idiosyncrasy. Needless to say, when you feel that you have all these qualifications and privileges, you will not look at yourself and feel for a moment that you may be mistaken.
While doing this, we are under the notion that we are complete, that we own the truth, and that there is no need to look inward and correct our own mistakes. What could we possibly lack when we feel that we know what is right and what is wrong? And what has been the result of all this? History shows that those who ignore their own shortcomings and concentrate on correcting others’ flaws, remain behind.
We try to solve others’ problems while ignoring the fact that similar problems exist in our own country. The divorce rate in our country is one of the highest in the world.
We seem to be preoccupied with the affairs of others — Iraq, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, India and North and South Korea — while our own problems continue to mount.
These include shortages in drinking water, domestic violence, robberies, problems related to university admissions and unemployment.
