JORDANIAN REFLECTIONS.

BY: Khairi Janbek

As a Jordanian citizen amidst having to jump hurdles, and avoid puddles in order to go through the daily routine of living; semi-successfully, one gets moments of respite for reflection on broad issue. You may share some of those reflections. So for instance :

In our country, we have I suppose, highly qualified officials and functionaries. Yet, at the same time, all their talents and education stumble at the first hurdle when they utter to you the word “prohibited”. It is really the easiest thing in the world to say that something is prohibited, because it provides the official with the convenient excuse, of not having to think about finding solutions to circumvent a problem for the convenience of the citizen. I mean if prohibitions only take a word to enforce, then any elementary school child can utter or write the word, without any training or qualifications. So, why are we bothering to train and qualify our officials, if a child with the simplest elementary education can say the same thing with the same precaution?.
That takes me to the next sequence of reflection, having mentioned the word education. We boast over two scores of universities, and schools even in the remotest areas of the Kingdom, making us perhaps the highest university per capita in the world. Yet, we are still searching for a role for education. No fear, suddenly we have discovered that education is supposed to make the Jordanian citizen, a lover of the middle ground and hater of all shades of extremism, as if the world terrorists are not aware of education and are not themselves educated. Why did we build all those universities and schools if they were not teaching the “right stuff” in the first place?. What is desperately needed is the creation of centers of learning and specialization in European and American affairs in our country, otherwise how can we conduct negotiations and consistent dialogue, when from our side of civilization, the interlocutors have minimal information about the “western” history of ideas, politics, and current affairs?.
Then what about reflecting on the idea of national identity?. One has gathered, from various conversations, and reading various local articles and newspaper columns, that we are really not sure what we are. Every now and then, someone steps in to define us in Jordan. Half of our writers, thinkers and intellectuals agree with the definition, while the other half go their own way and decide to counter-define us according to their own taste. Maybe under such circumstances, it would be prudent for Jordanians to hold a general dialogue among each other, because the only parties whom are talking to all Jordanians are actually the foreign embassies.
And last but not least, one keeps hearing the heartening, yet not all together wise old folks tale, that we should persevere and sacrifice now, so that the future generations can have better times and less problems. I am sorry, but only a fool would persevere and sacrifice, in the name of a future that he/she has no clue about, let alone guarantee that they will be alive at its dawn, to see the future generations having fun.