Dr Yacoub preserves legacy of past

Pioneer hopes for revival of human spirit

This is the seventh and last in a series of articles on Prof Yacoub Yousef Al Hajji, a prolific writer, consultant and researcher.

PProsperity

— Editor

ondering on the global crisis and what is happening in his own country,Dr Yacoub feels strongly concerned for its future, for we are all connected in this global situation, whose critical phase must be seen in a wide perspective in order for humanity to reach a solution.

His hope rests on the resiliency of the human spirit that thrives on crises.

Crisis spurs human incentive to find ways to overcome them.

Already science and technology are finding answers to the energy crisis, which is at the root of most problems.

The mass spreading of information through the internet and social media is affecting the structural patterns of people’s way of thinking thereby changing their behavior and decision making.

No longer kept in the dark, people around the world are taking action, trying to protect their interest and their future.

The world economy which grew out of competition among individual nations and forced by its own evolution to make international laws for managing it, cannot survive for long, especially when it rules in favor of the rich countries to the disadvantage of the poorer ones.

Justice in the world can only be achieved when the relationship between the wealthy and the poor nations is more equitable; a greater justice among people will enhance cooperation, which in turn enhances peace and prosperity in this world.

Dr Yacoub admired the wisdom of the late Amir, Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad, when he suggested at the UN to cancel part of the debts and write off the interest rates to the poorer countries, to give them a chance of recovering from their trenched poverty and allow them to make a start

By implementing his own suggestion, the Amir set the example for the beginning of a solution, which if followed by the other creditor countries, would indeed make a difference.

Technical assistance is also needed for those countries for them to achieve a balanced development.

We live in a world in which money, not the good life, drives the world and measure the health of a country’s economy.

The concentration of money in the hands of few creates poverty, corruption and injustice; this creates a situation that leads humanity to its doom.

Dr Yacoub sees in the rising of oil price the spearhead of calamity, because the price of oil is not determined by the producing countries, but by those who control them and seek to profit from the rise on prices on everything else caused by the price of oil.

This short-sighted policy inevitably reduces the purchasing power of consumers. The surplus of goods flooding the market puts a moratorium on production; workers lose their job, and people unemployed, desperate and hungry become more angry and will resort to anything to survive.

Humanity has reached a situation in which there will be either a radical shift in the economy or a disaster.

Development

Great crises spur human development which when based on equity and justice leads to human evolution.

Evolution is an unplanned venture; it is like a dance in which one improvises each step according to the rhythm of the music.

The more advanced nations have made many technological breakthroughs, but they have established a system of economy that could not survive because based on domination and competitiveness rather than on mutual agreement and cooperation, such a system is both wasteful and abusive.

Following the economic lead of the most advanced technological nations many self sufficient communities have became destitute in the span of one generation, while the richer countries have become more rich and powerful at their expenses.

Looking back to the days when his people used to live and prosper as a tight community helping, supporting one another in time of need, using their ingenuity to create things they needed from whatever was available, the professor sees a big change in his society since the wealth from the oil changed their ways of life. Responsible From a producer society modern Kuwaiti have become a wasteful, consumer society; surrounded by all sort of commodities and luxuries the people have lost that feeling for the values of things, which in the past made them both responsible and caring of their environment.

Because they knew the value of things nothing was wasted, even household garbage were collected and used for burning the earth to extract the lime needed in building, hence their town was kept clean and tidy

Lidia Qattan

Prof Yacoub Al Hajji

without effort from anyone.

Nowadays in spite of an army of sweepers and garbage collectors employed to keep the place clean, littering is everywhere, especially on the beaches where people gather.

In the old ways there were no wages for people to live on. Skippers, sailors and pearl–divers each according to its category received a share of the net profit at the end of the trading season, so everyone tried to do his best to increase that profit.

In their homes women used all their ingenuity to make ends meet and children were trained from an early age to share in family responsibilities.

The professor’s own mother was a hardworking, industrious woman typical of the women of her time.

Working from dawn to nightfall uncomplaining, women were then always busy doing something, even when socializing they used their time doing needle work, to sell their product at the women’ market for some cash. Boredom was unheard-of in those days!

In modern Kuwait amidst myriads of attraction affectation and boredom are easily taking hold of people, some escape boredom in useful undertakings or creativeness, but others waste their potentials seeking distraction under many forms.

Eating or shopping, buying things they don’t need seems the tendency of many women, others seek distraction in traveling.

All this needs money, which with the rising cost of living, is becoming scarce.

Those relying on their wages tend to become unhappy, self-centered and greedy, greed breeds corruption.

After the experience of the Iraqi invasion, Dr Yacoub was expecting a change for the better, but in the aftermath of the liberation he was deeply deluded because the rebirth he was hoping to see in his country failed to materialized, indeed the situation became more precarious for the younger generation in particular.

This worried the professor, and others who felt for their country and saw tremendous opportunities being wasted, to the ultimate loss of everyone concerned, especially the younger generation on which the future of the country depends.

The Iraqi invasion was a dark episode in the life of the nation, but while it lasted it proved the resiliency of the Kuwaiti spirit to fight and be united in a common endeavor. Lately there seem to be a revival of that spirit in the young generation of Kuwaiti men and women, who are seriously involved in the development of their country, encouraged by the state in starting their own business they are making a new start towards a productive society.

This is flaring the hope of Dr Yacoub in the revival of that spirit he so much admires; in the meantime he continues preserving the legacy of the past for the inspiration of future generations.

Among his published works are: “The History of Al Muhaleb” (one of the most renown deep-sea sailing ships of Kuwait), “The Voyage of Al Gazeer”, “Biography of Abdul Aziz Al Rashid “(already mentioned), “The art of Dow-building in Kuwait “in two versions, the short biographies of “Kuwaiti Sea Captains,” and other works.

Articles

Besides writing articles on the “Aspects of social and economical life in pre-oil Kuwait” and others articles related to sea-faring, Dr Yacoub has also edited the quaternary special issue, “Mukharat Shaabia “and held numerous conferences on the Arts and cultural heritage of Arabia.

Fond of traveling, in his research on the traditional seafaring route Dr Yacoub has visited almost every port to which the old Kuwaiti skippers and merchants used to sail; the photographs he took of those places have been published in book form.

Incidentally, when visiting the East African coast and the south of the Arabia coast he took a professional photographer and a researcher along with him, for a documentary film on the traditional East African voyage.

For the same documentary the professor and his group visited the ports on the Indian coast which in the past were regularly frequented by Kuwaiti merchants and skippers.

In the summer of his life Dr Yacoub Yousef Al Hajji is so committed to keeping alive the legacy of his people that he feels no need to settle down with a family of his own.

Indeed, happy with his freedom as a bachelor, his work has become his life-purpose; in it he feels the self-fulfillment and the subtle satisfaction of contributing to the memory of an era he is so proud to remember.

Concluded