1. Attitudes towards Elders

          In the culture wherefrom I come, the elders are highly respectable. Everyone is there to provide help at any moment. No matter what relationship you have to the old, you are obliged to respect them and to treat them with the utmost care. It is not Plato's Republic; it is the truth which can be observed on the streets and, more obvious, at homes.

           I still remember that I have never said the word “NO” to my father or my mother; neither have I felt reluctant to comply with their orders, even though if these orders are against my will. I can still remember how kids in different occasions rush to bring their fathers' shoes and put then humbly in front of their foot to wear. I did see more than once, while I was doing some governmental business, the employees give the priority to the old no matter what the number of people awaiting for him. Those who waited said: “good for you; may God reward you with good.” Not a slightest look of anger at the employee was observed.What I mention here is not because of the highly commendable ethics that young persons possess; it is rather attributed to what they have noticed in the society since they were children.

           I will leave you now with this picture of a young man carrying his old father. The pictures was taken in Mecca last year. Cars and buses were everywhere, but he insisted on doing so. When he was asked by a local newspaper's reporter about it, he replied: “my father carried me with great pleasure when I was a kid. It is now the time to return the favor. All that I want is the reward from God.”