http://www.arabnews.com/?page=13§ion=0&article=67776&d=5&m=8&y=2005&pix=kingdom.jpg&category=Local%20Press
Sunday, 31, July, 2005 (24, Jumada al-Thani, 1426)
Maids, Too, Can Drive
Ali Al-Mousa . Al-Watan
"Look, the maid is driving a car," shouted my little daughter when we
stepped outside Kuala Lumpur airport. That was the first woman my child saw
sitting in the driver's seat. The woman driver passed our car when we were
heading toward the city.
My child's words were an expression of how someone in her age views the
outside world. Her words said everything about the kind of teaching that we
give our children. It was no wonder my daughter reacted in disbelief when she
came face to face with the outside world. Her reaction to seeing a woman
driving a car was a true expression of how she views the world around her.
Our society continues to view a woman's job as no more than that of a
housekeeper. This applies even to a woman who assumes a senior position as
manager of operations at an international Asian airport. It is unfortunate that
this ugly picture we draw for others is shared by everyone, a child of eight
and a man of 80.
Facing northward, we see the world divided into two. All that we see to
our right is a world of cheap laborers and maids. When we turn left there we
see an infidel West. Based on this division, all it takes to judge a person is
to know which part of that world they hail from.
We excel in judging others, always seeking ourselves as a unique brand of
people. We are so different from others that we think we were created on a day
different than the one in which all other humans were created.
This false sense of superiority is not only felt toward those who are
geographically and emotionally far from us, but toward the very Muslim
societies around us. We view ourselves as the only rightful Muslims while
others practice questionable beliefs.
Our problem is that we refuse to look at the same mirror used by all
other peoples in this world. Because of this false sense of superiority Saudis
find themselves lining in a separate queue in front of passport counters at New
York or London airports and now at Kuala Lumpur's as well.
Before the world discovered our true picture, we used to receive a VIP
reception at all foreign airports. Now we are required to get a visa in advance
to be able to travel to countries such as Indonesia and Bangladesh, the two
very countries whose people we view as only maids and cheap laborers.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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