Mind: Wake up Jordan!!

It is not a secret that unemployment is one of the major problems in Jordan. This is a topic that has been discussed many times and it touches the lives of almost everyone in this country.

The percentage of educated individuals is continuously increasing and the number of schools and universities is on the rise as well; this is one of the successful trades and business models in Jordan and despite that the education fees are exploding every year; more students are enrolling and more graduates are pouring the workforce on yearly basis. However; the business market takes its need from fresh graduates which is only a fraction of the real number, leaving the rest of the graduates to fall in the trap of unemployment and total dependency on one's parents till a miracle happens.

We cannot put all the blame on the business sectors; job seekers must bare their share of the responsibility and blame.

First of all; the expectations of these students are not being managed properly; there is no career consulting services in universities; one that prepares students for the real world, so the student approaches senior year with high hopes piling up in his mind and heart to own the world upon graduation.

Of course; it would be unrealistic to think that all graduates will find opportunities on the spot and start their working life immediately after leaving university; only the lucky ones get such golden opportunities and get ahead of the others. On the other hand; our typical Jordanian student does not want to put any effort to put his/her first step on the ladder and they think that graduating is good enough to be chosen for any job they apply for when by far it is not.

In our culture; there are many factors that play major roles in forming this phenomenon; to name a few; culture focusing on shame, spoiled kids, unmanaged expectations, lack of student preparation to the working life and many others.

A thought comes to my mind as I write this; we are raising our kids to be dependent, we do not teach them to be responsible since early age, accountability has no known meaning in our lives and we do not prepare them to be the future men and women. Since early age; we do everything for our children and we give them everything they need when they need it; all they have to do is ask and they get it without putting any effort or doing anything. The idea that someone has to work in order to get something is not a factor in the way we raise the future generation and by not doing so, we are preparing them to fail, not to succeed.

One of the things that we make sure our kids must know; is that there are ranks and levels in the community. Some jobs are just considered low level and they are interconnected with poverty and shameful roles; they are beneath our sons and daughters and unconsciously we teach them to disrespect those who perform them and consider them beneath us as individuals when all people are supposed to be equal. They grow up thinking of the garbage guy as someone who is needy enough to accept this role and they forget that without him, we wouldn't have a clean city to brag about.

We teach them that it is more important how people perceive you than making a living; so in their mindset; it is ok to stay jobless for years than to work in a construction site or as a waiter, driver, guard or any other low level job.

Mothers work hard to add a prefix to their children's names as if they would not be proud of them or love them the same if they grew up to be just them. Unconditional love is a concept that we don’t recognize and we grew up to believe that if I am not successful enough, rich enough, beautiful enough, handsome enough, whatever enough, people would not love or accept us and we continue to pass this myth from one generation to another.

I can continue to rant forever about this issue, but it would be pointless if no one will hear. If we continue to put more weight on people's opinions in what we do and how we live our lives, we will never rise up to everyone's expectations and standards, hence; we continue to stress ourselves with imaginary standards that we must meet, turning our lives into a rat race, but one that has no finish line.

It is not shameful to work, it is not shameful to start somewhere, it is shameful though; to continue to be a dependent person living off the effort of others, it is also shameful to look down on people who proudly handle jobs we consider beneath us because without their work, our lives would never be the same.

Today is the day you must wake up Jordan and do something to build a better tomorrow!

At the end, Hajjaj says it best and I wanted to share this with you!
For those who don't read Arabic; Abu Mohammed in the back is thanking the customer in an Egyptian accent to pass as a foreign worker and not as a citizen :)

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