Dubai and the golden days
We are still in an era where small-talk governs a bygone Dubai: the time when Dubai was Dubai; when the old days were golden days.
What, may I ask, is less golden today than it was 2 decades ago? A society that enjoys economic prosperity is bound to enjoy social and cultural changes with time, and if time diversifies Dubai, the shift is for the better.
Relative to the growth of Dubai, we still enjoy the freedoms and fun of yesteryear, if not on a grander scale. So all this nostalgia is just such: nostalgia, and a fear of letting go of the past, when today is much better.
Without the past, we have no future. And without the future, we have no tomorrow.
6 comments:
what scares me is that people today are reminiscing things that weren't that far away.. are we moving to the 'future' a bit too fast?
I'm with you on this. Moryarti.. yes, me thinks we are perhaps moving a bit too fast.. but hey.. the future waits for no one!
Nostalgia is a great thing. Dubai was a great thing aswell. It has jumped forward way too fast for the average Emirati to watch. It feels like we missed something....and our heads are spinning. Growth is great, lets move forward, but not by doing a hundred year leap in 5 years. whoa slow down.
I suspect the foreigners don't really give a monkeys shit what has happened as long as they can enjoy themselves, heck, they can always go home when it gets too much to bear. The locals are stuck, and in the middle of a hellhole designed to please the plastic expats and make money for the big honchos....watch them drown. Fear of letting go is not the issue here, it is fear of being forced to sink or swim.
Ummmm off topic, you've been tagged, princess.
http://blog-uaeian.blogspot.com/2007/10/tag-time.html
growth is good, but leaves your mind behind. back in the 1700/1800 when london was growing unbelivably (industrial revolution and all) you could see it in the literature. people feeling lost, living in an unstable environment moving too fast leaving them not knowing where they are.
you lost some culture, you gain some new culture. only people totally happy with it are probably the new foreigners, since they have no connection with the past, and enjoy the growth. the locals enjoy it, but feel something lost as well.
*moryarti, the reality of it all is that come next generation, they will know no better.
*Buj, you either sink or swim, like cg says. But I would prefer to be living in modern times myself.
*cg, Dubai jumped when it saw an opportunity. Although I do completely agree it's hard not to feel nostalgic, I don't agree with people's heads being stuck in the past because it prevents them from living and accepting the reality.
Cg, there are some foreigners who do care about Dubai's heritage and aren't of the plastic variety. Additionally, I do not believe that in the long-run, the growth of Dubai will not benefit locals much more today and in the future without this pace of development.
My last point re: values, it's ridiculous to blame "outside influence" on one's own values. One has a choice what to eat and drink at home: hamburgers vs. harees; likewise...Emirati marriage or foreign?
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