A reply to #OccupyWEF fellow Jordanians

No one wakes up one day and finds himself/herself an economic leader; in order to become a “leader” you need certain qualities and skills, plus days and nights of hard work to be in this position. The personal interest and the morals of such an economic leader are NOT the WEF’s business or anyone else's for that matter, and using the location of the Dead Sea as a metaphor to indicate the effect of the Global Recession doesn’t show originality or maturity.

There are various types of people in terms of reacting to this matter; One is the “I don’t give a damn about anything and that is because a) I have enough money, or b) I don’t know, I don’t care –ignorance is a bliss!”.. Two is “I barely can put food on my table so; a) I need to blame someone so let’s take it out on the so called ‘self proclaimed economic leaders’, or b) let’s make a real change with a positive attitude.” Three, the type that has just enough money and could be called Middle Class, and decides to make a change but HOW? a) I will appoint myself to defend the less fortunate and attack the “self proclaimed” economic leader. b) I will stop blaming the government, the system or anyone else and I will start change in myself, in my home, in my family, in my neighborhood, and every possible place and I might start an initiative as well. And finally, the “self proclaimed economic leaders” that a) genuinely want to make a change and joined the WEF to make a difference and b) OK! Time to make profit and suck what’s left of life from inside the people.

So generalizing and condemning WEF is not a very bright thing to do, and we can’t guess the intentions of each and every person in the world. WEF fosters initiatives, agreements and projects, at WEF the hard working economic leaders talk, preach –just like you did- advise, inspire and aspire for a better world. They also talk about an action plan and at the end of it; we all go to bed hoping for a better living and a better tomorrow. As for the specific examples you stated. Please do tell me on what basis you decided that we have poor education? I keep hearing of bright students coming from each and every place in Jordan! I do NOT deny that some schools’ levels need immediate intervention, but I only know of “Madrasti” that was launched in April 2008 to renovate 500 of Jordan’s public schools over a five-year period, and Injaz which do the most impressive and effective work –to me at least- and after a personal experience and knowing better and more about Injaz and all its AMAZING programs. Again, I am not saying we have the best education or we don’t face any problems with education but first things first and change takes a long time. I will leave you with one thought; assume we achieved the goal and Jordan has the best schools, best facilities and best in everything, wouldn’t we have people that would forbid their daughters from going to school because of their mentality that needs reforming as well? While “the government and economic leaders” are working on giving you a better education, how about you do something like enlightening or think of an initiative to change that mentality? As for why some of the plans are not delivered or being investigated, please refer to the second paragraph above.

I will quote a paragraph: “As the Arab region experiences extraordinary change, intra-Arab exchange, and investment in regional projects for the betterment of citizens, are key. To deliver on this, travel restrictions and unfriendly conditions for regional exchange and partnership must be removed.” Travel restrictions? I wish. I honestly and deeply wish that Arabs would unite one day, but when I read it…although I never traveled by road, but shouldn’t we –as people- consider the consequences and possible negative repercussions of removing such restrictions? For example, two words popped up in my head “Drugs smuggling”.

Shouldn’t we stop running after our emotional reactions and take a second to think about it! I have high hopes about Jordan joining the GGC, and that is a step the government is trying to take. My fellow Jordanians, I have one word for you “PATIENCE”. God has created the universe in 6 days while he could have created it in one day, and I think he did that for a reason… to teach us something, a lesson. And finally, remember that there is WEF and things similar to it. And there is TEDx and things similar to it, and each has its people and BOTH unite to achieve ONE GOAL!