Socializing with two matches

Kuwaitis used to mainly depend on fishing and trading in pearls as the main source of income, to the extent that 1912 was called the ‘affluent year,’ when Kuwaitis had the largest pearl harvest ever. However, this national industry was ruined in the early 1930s when the Japanese started producing artificial pearls as well as cultivating natural ones by inserting glass powder into living shells, which annoyed them and made them coat these alien bodies with the raw substance of pearls, creating fine ones. This method helped make sure that all shells would include pearls in them, and thus the pearl market collapsed and prices deteriorated drastically.

This shift lead to a period of devastating economic depression that coincided with the international economic depression towards the end of the 1930s, and Kuwaitis had a very hard time providing for their families. However, Kuwaitis managed to overcome this terrible period in their history by socializing, bonding closer and assisting each other, especially those worse off.

By recalling memories about that period from the corners of my mind, I remember that we ran out of matches and my mother gave me an empty matchbox and asked me to go the neighbors asking them to lend us only two matchsticks, which I did. This is how we used to socialize and coalesce together in times of distress. If only people would comprehend and realize the message and learn the moral lessons of those long forgotten habits and traditions. —

Kuwaitis managed to overcome this terrible period in their history by socializing, bonding closer and assisting each other