Too Many Daves!

...she called them all Dave

and now, it's too late! 

                    Dr. Suess

Watching the news.. Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya: a little chaotic in the Middle East right now.  The Saudi’s are getting a bit worried too I think.  They have a few ‘problems’ over there but I think the biggest is the age of their population.

I’m not sure what the ratio between people over and under 30 in Oman is, but I am pretty positive it is very significant.  And the whole Middle East is like that: almost everybody is under 30! I can totally understand why their governments struggle with things like unemployment! 

A lot of these countries got their flying start from oil.  All of a sudden children were not dying, and families were prospering. But oil is no longer where their money comes from.  I mean, of course there is still oil, for now anyway, but the countries I am aware of have really diversified and making a dollar is a lot harder than it used to be in the old days, like the 80’s.  These governments are on the right track, but it is a big, new, slick machine that is stalling out.. and it takes imagination and hard work to get things rolling again, and well.. there is a joke in northern Australia about ‘company’ vehicles being so much cheaper and easier to run.  “You don’t need to change the oil, or worry about running them through water on the road.  You can drive the heck out of them.. not like personal vehicles.” 

What they aren’t laughing at is the fact that the government has finally gotten wise and is no longer just handing out vehicles: I mean someone actually does have to pay.  And in that case, it is the people that have government jobs today, and no vehicles because of the abuses of yesterday.. but of course no one makes the connection.

I am always thinking about the Indigenous people, the parallels are all there.. as they are between all people.  In Oz, even though the Australian government really worked hard to cleanse the country of all that dark skin, actually believing that Indigenous people could be eradicated through government controls, they not only failed, but I suggest there are more indigenous people here than there were fifty years ago. 

Like Vas’s friend, they follow their mother’s blood lines, which means that people of mixed blood, do not marry lighter skin as the government suggested they do at one time, but almost always marry another Indigenous person. 

And with the government paying them to have children, and nothing much to do, and not a great deal of interest in birth control, and no worries surrounding child care (family will help and if they don’t the government will) or education (kids don’t want to go to school anyway), I just see the numbers growing.

And the issues. 

Young people with a lot of time on their hands, feeling sorry that they don’t have the same amount of ‘stuff’ as the neighbor: who not only worked for the accumulation, but also thought about things like maintenance and planning. 

I think a lot of these kids have been fed with a silver spoon: some certainly shinier than other’s but you can see the metaphor, and are now coming to an age where they are able to recognize that the oil (government) is not always going to be the big provider it once was, and that means they are going to have to get jobs: and that’s just not fair!

Of course nothing is this simple.  The government in Egypt had been in there for a while and there was a lot of inequity.  It was time for the people to move.. but it really has started a ball rolling … Young men can be wound a little too tight and I hope they are able to keep their goals clear and not let things get out of hand. 

I have friends over there.  And, I know these are good people and I worry. 

Ahh youth.  At least I don’t have to worry about that anymore! 

Is it hot in here?