To Drive or Not to Drive?

This issue is growing to be a huge embarrassment to me to the point I wish everyone will just stop talking about it! I have been living in Saudi Arabia all my life and I still can't understand what is going on in there, that is why I usually avoid talking with foreigners about my country because I will never be able to explain it to them. Why women don't drive? Well, I don't know. It sounds silly, isn't it?

I have a small discussion with my male cousin one day, he was totally aggressive about it and tried to ridicule the matter of women's right to drive. He actually said: "If you drove, will all of your dreams come true?" WHAT?  that was my first reaction, I was surprised he would ever think of it like that. I replied: "No, I will peruse my dreams no matter what but not being able to drive can be an obstacle sometimes and can be a dead end for other women, too!" It was obviously he wasn't convinced because he just switched the conversation to jokes with someone else.

This is a core of this problem. People like him not giving a damn of what other people need. If I don't need food, I won't deprive others from it! It is common sense and human decency! Depriving women the right to drive had started many years ago until it became a part of our society. And now, living in the new world, some women just woke up and want to change a thing that was planted in every Saudi man's personality; women don't drive. And that Saudi man is the police officer, a shura council member, a figure of authority.. the man who has the upper hand even if he was a big wuss.

Have you ever thought that this kind of issue will never change as long as there are families raising their sons to control and even hit their sisters? This is not a law we can't easily rebel against it and change it, this a deep social and traditional belief, and we all know how some Saudis worship their traditions and ancestors more than Allah! It is kind of ironic that they are the same people who use Islam just to make their argument stronger.

In a country where Contradictory is our currency and Double-standards is our language, a simple question of women driving or not just became the talk of the town.. and the whole world! If a woman drove, she is INSTANTLY going to jail even if there isn't a law to say so. If a grown up sick man RAPED 14 little girls, they are still thinking what they are going to do with him and still running psychological tests on him and the verdict is still unknown. This is the country we are living in.

In my own humble opinion.. if there is still a child who is raised this way: Click Here!, things will never change. The only solution for this dilemma is for Saudi Arabia to start over, either way, things are going to be the same. I'm not being pessimistic, things are really this way. The problem started socially, let's fix it in the same way and for this thing to succeed, we need decades!

This is all what I can do in the 17 of June, I'm not going to drive because I don't know how to. But I really hope for a better future and I do have faith in this generation. And as an aspiring writer, this is my contribution to this day. Post a comment and pour your thoughts out, I would really love to know how do you really feel about it, what started this problem and how to fix it.