It has been over two months now since the wave of Arab Revolt, as I would like to call it, hit our Jordan. Since demonstrations began invading front pages on our newspapers, making themselves a main focus of our daily talks and thoughts, and since the ReformJO hashtag made its way to the frontline of Tweets from JO tweeples. How far have we come as a result? Have we been wise critics? Or have we assumed affiliations and ideologies based on rumors and hearsay?
On an unplanned visit to the Civil Society Development Center at university today, I was struck by the realization that I had formed a deeply flawed opinion of the Jordanian constitution and all that relates to it, that the factual information and history that I know of my country exclude details of primary significance. I am also saddened to say that even though my late grandfather, Suleiman Mousa, wrote a comprehensive and detailed history of Greater Syria and the Arab revolt comprising more than forty books – with focus on Jordan and the Hashemites – I have only found time to lay my hands on two of these works: “T.E Lawrence: An Arab View”, and “A History of Jordan in the 20th Century”, having read a mere twenty pages of the latter.
Building on a previous post by Adam, questioning the degree of education, creativity, and maturity of thought in the country, I would like to think that we are an educated nation, and not one where the majority of individuals “follow-the-leader” and have no sense of self-thought and rationalized opinion. But what I have begun observing from certain actions of demonstrators is quite the contrary, and a well thought out opinion, tolerant and respectful to conflicting views is honestly quite hard to find.
This brings me to the title of this post, the real reform Jordan needs. I can’t deny the benefits peaceful demonstrations have made thus far, from efforts to establish a teachers’ union, to less gender discrimination, to fighting corruption – yes it all counts. But the real reform starts when each individual citizen starts asking himself what he is capable of doing for this country instead of positioning himself as a know-it-all observer and critic, pointing fingers and blaming everyone around him. A quote that is often attributed to John F. Kennedy “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ‘ask’ what you can do for your country” but is factually from Khalil Gibran’s “The New Frontier”, states exactly that. “I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it” is another quote I would like to mention, commonly credited to Voltaire but widely thought to have been said by Ewelyn Hall. A quote I truly admire; freedom of speech and respect to one another, this is the characteristic that should be defining us, and not violence and hatred – which will achieve absolutely nothing.
As an end to this post, I shall vow to reform Jordan by working on the individual Jordanian citizen – myself. I shall focus my efforts on achieving a better knowledge of medicine; working harder at medical school and becoming a proficient physician capable of ensuring quality healthcare to fellow citizens. I shall focus my efforts to establish a better understanding of the history of this country, its constitutions and its culture by comprehensively reading and affiliating myself with all I can in these regards. My ultimate goal? Giving back to my beloved country as a reformed Jordanian.
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