Yes We Can: A Version for Jordan
Ahmad's post on the US election got me thinking. As many of you likely know, I'm a citizen of two great countries, the US and Jordan. I was born and raised in the US (or as the old bumper sticker goes, American by birth Southern by the grace of God) and adopted (and was adopted by) Jordan when we moved here two years ago. Those of you who read my blog know that I am equally critical of both my homes. I view each of them without rose-colored glasses. They each have their problems. More importantly, they each have their glories. And, as Ahmad posited, Jordan needs a Can-Do attitude. So, I'm dedicating this post to the Yes We Can of Jordan, as I see it.
- Yes we can: Have a country where we protect the health of our children, following smoking bans in all public places and calling each other to task when we fail.
- Yes we can: Have a country that protects its young citizens by following traffic safety laws and regulations, stopping the onward march of death from stupidity.
- Yes we can: Build people instead of buildings making it a national priority to train, educate, and enable citizens to be more than they are today, to achieve our unique potential.
- Yes we can: Use our voices to produce the change we want to see by following Gandhi's admonition to "Be the change you want to see in the world."
- Yes we can: Change the ills of society by taking each person as an opportunity to make a difference.
- Yes we can: Shed our cynicism to embrace making a difference in a positive and helpful way.
- Yes we can: Love our neighbors (all of them) and value their uniqueness, diversity, and beauty.
- Yes we can: Accept the challenge to become better than we are today and start with ourselves.
- Yes we can: Learn from others who have gone before us (regardless of where) and accept the good while refusing the bad.
- Yes we can: Become the voice of change in our world, both local and global, reminding ourselves of how far we have come and how far we have yet to go.
Please feel free to add your own thoughts of things that we can do, because like Ahmad I believe that Yes we can make a change in Jordan for the better.
Happy optimism!
posted by MommaBean @ 10:14 PM
8 Comments
8 Comments:
you asked for it!
>Yes we can: Elect Members of Parliament based on the "content of their character" not the name of their tribe.
>Yes we can: By at least following the laws already in place, become the nation we could.
>Yes we can: leave our baseball bats at home when going to soccer games.
>Yes we can: Use the under/over ground street crossing instead of jumping over the center divider.
>Yes we can: stop the "nifaq ijtima3y" for its....well, Nifaq!
>Yes we can: Do a lot if we put aside the fake belief of superiority and have an honest, serious look at the state of the nation.
Yes we can't unless we are able to be critical and have the freedom to say what we want to say without fear or prosecution.
Thank you MommaBean for this great post... Well, The yes we can for Jordan need at least a bookof several volumes to fit in... But among the most important ones are:
- The first Yes we can mab3oos posted about parliment members.
- Yes we can put the right person in the right place instead of putting our relatives or friends even if they are incompetnent and know nothing about anything.
- Yes we can give credit and respect to people based on their capacities, achievements and ideas, instead of giving that based on their family name, their money or their other nationality besides Jordanian.
- Yes we can be proud of our culture and heritage, because it is the past and its lessons who help to build a better future. Our culture is a great one.
- Yes we can point out the aberrant habits and traditions in our society, and try to fix them.
- Yes we can stop the massacres of our children in the streets, by sending road criminals to prison. We can stop the outdated, stupid, illogical habit of giving "Atwa" for the family of the criminal who commits a murder with his car.
Yes we can become a society, because we are not for now. A society means people who live together and help each other, people who think together to build a better life, people who are not afraid of critics, people who are don't think that they are the best on earth even if they did nothing throughout their life. We need to think together, to work together.
Happy sociological thinking.
Bam, it actually starts with those who are willing to risk stepping out in fear.
Where do we go to nominate Ahmad Hamden? :)
Kinzi, I am still a bit younger than the 30 years of age required to be able to get to the parliment :)
Ahmad, excellen additions. Kinz, I'm with you and we know that 30 is NOT a magical age...
Although, one I would add, is -Yes we can educate our children to understand their role in walking and driving responsibly. Slowly meandering across a busy street while on the cell phone negates your innocence in the matter...
The most importat points begin form numbr 4 as we shuold not wait what Jordan can do for you but what we can for our country. Unfortunately in jordan we lack the respect for our neighbors, colleagues, kids, streets, environment, roads, neighborhoods. We need to work on many problems we have in our society and change begins within ourselves, we shouldnt wait for the Government to tell us how to respect the environment for example or how to smile to your neighbor, or how to slow down when there are kids on the streets....the list goes on
Yes we can ignore our guardian devil saying 'allah yel3an abu el jalleh" whenever we try to do somthing good, polite, proper, ...normal.
I hope your husband can educate you about the meaning of the old saying between the "...".
And, yes it takes a Forest Gump coming to Jordan to tell us that we can.
Your reader from the provinces.
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