By Ray Petersen — Having chosen to work in the Middle East, wherever in the Middle East, for whatever reasons, it behoves the likes of myself, a European cultured expatriate, to come to terms with the society, and environment that I have chosen to live in.
I guess there is a certain amount of arrogance in thinking that I, for example, can or will come to Oman, which is a developing country, and develop it, change it, and make it better, and yet, with all of the goodwill in the world, the first thing that should change, in my environment here, is me.
To paraphrase the great philosopher Bertrand Russell, “one of the great tragedies of our world is that so often it is the fools who are full of certainty, while the wise are full of doubt,” and I probably found, and sometimes find, myself in the former of those two groups because I don’t have the same contextual and cultural parameters as many of those around me.
What appears to be, not only right and appropriate in my eyes, is based entirely upon the learning, experience, and presumptions I have learned throughout my life, prior to coming to the Middle East. It may not, and probably in fact, will not, be appropriate here, where the social structure, the global view of the Islamic faith, and Arabic citizenship, is very different to that I have most experience of.
I should have been much more aware of, and prepared for, the differences. After all, while we ‘Kiwis’ think of ourselves as quite robust and effective advocates of, and for, what we believe in, really, next to our Australian cousins, we are absolute ‘babes in the woods.’ The Australians are much bolder, much more opinionated, and, in their way aggressive, yet without being so. We are seen as their ‘little brothers,’ ‘country cousins’ or almost ‘agricultural’ by comparison.
The characteristics of other societies and cultures too, have their own peculiarities with American, Latin, Russian bloc and East European, Central European, African, Asian, Oriental, South Asian, South East Asian and Polynesian people all being quite different in their approaches to life, challenges, and relationships.
One huge difference is the way in which the Western civilisations see every occurrence as part of a ‘big picture,’ and seeking unification of all things, which is something that we are encouraged to do, whereas I believe the Arab society tends more towards atomism, where each action or event being isolated and separate, snapshots, and isolated moments in time. This allows us, I think, to adapt to change more readily, and to be more responsive to external influences, while in the Arab world, piecing the jigsaw together is a more complex challenge.
The disadvantage for us is that, in our push for development, progress and innovation, not to mention commercial success, as Soren Keirkegaard wrote, “Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste, that they hurry past it.” We are intent upon Milliken’s, “development, without prejudice or preconception, knowledge of the facts, laws, and processes of nature.” Yet we don’t cherish those achievements, being in too much of a hurry to move on to the next.
Quite simply too, the religious adherence of the Muslim to their faith is on the basis of ‘faith first,’ and faith and the will of God being the elemental in all things, whereas in the West we tend to credit progress to mankind, evolution and development. Islam is certainly a more forgiving religion to those within its faith, while other faiths tend to weigh forgiveness in their faiths, with consideration to other, mostly individual factors.
An old Arab proverb says, “Write your insults in the sand, but carve your compliments in stone.” Now that’s a very forgiving philosophy, and is the opposite of much of ours, in which we say, “If you can’t say something good, say nothing at all,” yet we do seem to recall bad deeds more readily than good.
Modernity is seen as an absolute driving force in much of the world, however the Arabic society finds contradiction in much that is of today, and while wanting to embrace all that is new and progressive, it entertains a distrust, well, maybe a hesitancy, in terms of the impact upon the religious and social tenets of their society. And really, who could blame them?
Where am I going with this? Well, there can be no doubt about my enthusiasm for what I do, but now and again, in applying the behavioural parameters of my Western education, training and experience, I am not taking into account the cultural niceties of the Omani society, I am being demanding, abrasive, and often too, even my humour and praise are misunderstood.
I don’t mean to be, it’s just that I want to make a difference, and if I am honest with myself, I know that one day, my efforts will be acknowledged and appreciated. It’s just that I am in too big a hurry, and maybe, in a suppressed form of selfishness, I want to see that difference yesterday.
Occam’s Razor tells us that, “No more things should be presumed to exist than are actually necessary.” I and maybe others too, need to demonstrate more consideration to those around us, for we cannot dictate the pace of change here, unless we are asked to do so. Patience, if we practice it, will allow us to promote change, but not at the expense of the local identity. As yet another Arabic proverb advises, “Before you shoot the arrow, dip it in honey!”
— petersen_ray@hotmail.com
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