Letters to the Editor [Archives:2002/30/Letters to the Editor]
Rejoinder to Trashcan of civilizations
I thank you for this editorial of issue 29 Trashcan of civilizations. It is a difficult subject to address, and your statement is clear and moving.
In the United States, much is said about the importance of Self-Esteem – the regard one has for ones own accomplishments; the pride one has in oneself. Much effort is made to ensure that children and adolescents do not come to view themselves as stupid, clumsy or failures. It has been found that such negative self images are often self-fulfilling prophecies. A child that believes he will fail *will* fail, no matter that he is just as smart as anyone else in the class.
Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. Some of the worst failures in the American system are young people that have a vastly inflated self-image, that brag about their greatness when they have accomplished nothing. American rap music is full of this pointless boasting – and sometimes describes the failure, degradation and brutality that comes from it.
These are the two conditions that Yemen, and much of the Arab world, have fallen into. On one hand intelligent, skilled people are wrongly convinced that they cannot truly be the equal of any in the world, and give into despair. At the same time, a few bullies and braggarts shout their superiority from the rooftops, but contribute nothing but pain and poverty to the world.
Yemen and the rest of the Arab world do deserve leaders that care first and last about the people, and not about enriching themselves with power or money. But these leaders will only arise when the people demand them, and settle for nothing less. An old American aphorism is that people get the government they deserve. Yemen deserves better, and I hope Yemenis will demand it.
In the meantime, do not be jealous of Sudan. They have enough problems of their own. I wish you good fortune, and the strength to succeed.
R. Riley
[email protected]
Los Angeles, California, USA.
It is us who must make the change
Thank you for expressing your views on the overall ranking of Yemen in todays world in your editorial published in issue 29 under the title Trashcan of civilizations. But it was not clear whether it was the civilization or global development that you are referring to. I would assume that it is the global development for which I am in full agreement. I also agree on how backward we still are when compared to where we are supposed to be. Judging our development by a short political visit to Sudan clearly demonstrates that we need some better skills to know the ground of comparison and country model to select. The worthy editorial comment you presented linked our development with a call of Arab Union. In my opinion, that is too far taken as far as Yemens development is concerned. Let us not reason or justify our development position with unattainable Arab union. Let us concentrate on the issues concerning our own local development before tackling regional politics. Let us not only address the politicians inefficiencies but change them. Let us start changing our communities and upgrade ourselves before resting the problem to politicians. Each one of us can do something to upgrade the standard of living of our families. Only then will the communities change. It is us who make communities, which in turn form a nation. Positive steps have already been taken by presidential initiatives to unify and inter-mingle our poor but prejudice societies. Encouragement is being done to attract Yemenis born and living overseas to come and/or share their technical know-hows in order to boost our nations development. But the president needs support and we all should bear the burden to lift ourselves up.
Lutfi Bin Ishaq
[email protected]
Editorials about passport authority
First of all I would like to thank you for your strong editorials. However, I hope you can also include in your upcoming editions editorials focusing on our governments lack of law enforcement mechanisms especially concerning those who work at the passport and immigration authority.
I was there at the authority recently and I saw them giving away residential cards and birth certificates to foreigners with carelessness. If anyone from any country visits the authority with a Yemeni person, who knows any employee at the authority, he will be able to get all the papers he wants easily. Isnt there need to investigate this serious issue?
Abdulsalam Hidarh
[email protected]
Good work Yemen Times
I visit yementimes.com on a regular basis and would like to thank you and your team for delivering a high quality news website about Yemen. I depend on this site because its the best English Yemeni newspaper on the Internet and the topics are diverse and interesting.
Hussain Yafai
[email protected]
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