You Dont Realize How Good You Have It...!

I have now been working for 59 days, and still have 12 days left. I have never been so ready to be home in my life. At the end of all this I will have been away from my bed, my dogs, and my wife for 71 days! Depending on how you look at it, that’s 10 weeks, 1700 hours, or 20% of a whole year! We are definitely going to go on a loooooooooong vacation when I get home!

I am currently on a job that has been going for 30 hours and I haven’t been able to sleep yet. I am babbling, and really slaphappy, so I apologize in advance if this blog rambles. Since I don’t have much new to tell you about, I’ll share with you whats on my mind.

You never realize how good you have it until you experience the contrast between your way of life and someone else’s. The Arabian world is so different I thought I would point out some of these differences and share them with you.

Religion/Prayer

In Saudi Arabia 99% of the population is Muslim and religion is something that greatly impacts everyday life. First off, prayer is done 5 times a day, once before sunrise, another time at high noon, another time at 15:30, another time at 1830, then one last time at 2030. Before each of these prayers they stop whatever they were doing – businesses even close during prayer times, and can be shut down permanently if they don’t – then they wash their hands, face, head, mouth, nose, feet, and arms with water. Finally, they pray for 10-15 minutes… In my opinion, this is an amazing display of faith, discipline, and priorities. I think that we can all learn something from this in our own religions.

Saudi Arabia is one of three countries that has religious rule (the other two being Afghanistan and Pakistan). Islam and the Koran dominate the way their government is run, the laws that are in place, the way family is managed, and their economy. It is a very strict and criminals are dealt with harshly. Sex before marriage and drug trafficking have death tolls, stealing costs you your hands, etc. Furthermore, women are to take care of the family and once a women is married they “belong” to the man. The black dress “Black Ghosts” is a stretch of this rule. No other man should be able to look at another mans wife, so no part of their skin can be seen…

The Kingdom

Saudi Arabia, the area, started with many tribes of people who believed in a few religious men. The old king befriended and gathered the religious people and developed the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is still known as the Kingdom. The king is seen as the protector of the two holy cities. Coincidentally, to my knowledge, the laws aren’t really applied to the king, as he controls the power.

Freedom Rights

“Rights” that we consider as god-given or second nature are not necessarily acknowledged here. Killing, lying, adultery, etc. are against the law, but freedom of speech and expression are definitely not protected. Moreover, gays are put to death, women cannot drive (maybe they did something right =), drinking is forbidden, and women may not go out without a chaperon who must be a brother, father, husband, or son.

My Opinion

I think that in many areas Saudi Arabia needs to evolve into a better nation; however, I also think that its conservatism is great for raising the family, religion, hard work, and discipline. In my opinion, I think that the biggest problem with America today is that we lack discipline, we leave our kids to raise themselves (or have someone else do it all together), or we give in to mediocre-“luke-warm” faith’s. All of the problems we have like corruption, morality, crime, laziness, obesity, etc. etc. are linked to these three issues. For that, I think we could learn something from Saudi Arabia.

I know that I may have offended some of you, I am sorry, but it is also your right to have your own beliefs. Also, I am not saying that we should treat our women or people like the Saudi’s treat theres. My only point is that no one is staying home to take care of the kids anymore and very few people have visible strong faiths in the western world. I am one of these western people. But I will try harder...