Abdulaziz Muhammad Al-Nahari
If you see someone following the rules, you will immediately know that this person is from a civilized society. Anyone who has visited or lived in Europe or North America realizes the importance of abiding by rules and regulations. He will observe the rules at home, in public and when driving, walking or sitting in a public place. And guess what? He will do it naturally without realizing that he is doing anything special.
Some of us Saudis do not respect the law unless we have traveled abroad. We do not abide by rules here because it is not in our blood; our schools, families, and society have failed to teach the importance of law and order. They have never instilled it in our minds from the time that we were children.
I have tried and still try to act like a civilized human being and respect the laws and observe the rules everywhere I go, even if I am the only one doing so. I want people to see me abiding by rules so that they will imitate me. I want a small number to follow in my footsteps and I hope that this small number will increase over time and become a group that then gets bigger. Unfortunately, it is like pushing water uphill.
Whenever I stand in a line, I see someone jumping in without caring about the others who came before him. Whenever I drive on the road, a crazy driver cuts me off. We Arabs only observe rules when we are forced to. If nobody makes us do it, we will not do it because we do not care.
That is why I find it difficult to be the only one observing rules. If I try to advise people against breaking rules, they blame or criticize me as if I were an alien who was asking them to do something strange. Sometimes they even shout at me because of it.
