Looking back in history, we find that scientific and economic development in the West did not happen overnight, but that it was rather a gradual process, which took Europe out of the Dark Ages into the Renaissance and then the Enlightenment paving the way for the full bloom of the Industrial Revolution. It is also worth noting that this progress was not limited to scientific achievements and economic development, but that it was also an evolution on a social, cultural and individual level. This evolution altered Europeans' ideologies and values and the way they perceived life in general in a way that inspired and supported their scientific and economic development. At the time, they looked up to the advancements of the Islamic Empire and sought education and knowledge from it, which contributed positively to building the foundations of their civilization. However, when the roles were reversed and the majority of the Muslim world ended up at the bottom of the well looking up to Western civilization, there was a larger gap in terms of development. So, instead of climbing out of the well by means of education and waiting for self-induced development as the West did, we decided to leap out of it. The financial prosperity after the discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia along with the increased wealth of other developing countries facilitated the importation of industrialization and technological advancement from the "developed" world. Starting from what was supposed to be the result disrupted the "cycle" of development, especially when it occurred in traditional and rigid societies. Although it has definitely saved hundreds of years, now decades after acquiring the "purchased" development, many of these nations continue to be "developing" and consuming countries who suffer from many social problems which were exasperated as a result of this sudden jump into the future. If we take Saudi Arabia as an example, we find that some of these problems include higher pollution rates than the global average caused by littering in addition to petroleum and sewage leaks into the Red Sea as a result of a lack of awareness and adequate infrastructure. Another prominent problem is the high rate of fatal road accidents causing the death of about 17 people on a daily basis, which makes the Kingdom the 23rd country worldwide in terms of road accident fatalities and second in the Arab world. When examining the causes of such problems, we find that most of them are at least partly caused by many people's distorted value system which glorifies self-interest from the smallest actions in their daily lives, such as cutting in line to buy groceries, all the way up to embezzlement and institutional corruption. These problems are not prominent in the West not because of their moral superiority, but because during their centuries of evolution, they realized that self-interest is best served in the long-run by being ethical and being considerate of everyone else's needs. Appropriate education along with strict laws definitely has helped to keep people in check. These social problems and many more have been recognized as hurdles that developing countries face on the road to development and they have been studied in an attempt to solve them, but the effects of the problems keep increasing, which indicates that the implemented solutions are ineffective. Looking at other countries' success stories in development sometimes backfires because the change has to come from within for it to be suitable to a particular society. For example, one of the most common suggestions is that democracy would be the answer to the problems that these nations are facing. This would be true if the countries we are talking about have a high level of education and intellectual development, but if not, then these nations would be reduced to dust because the educated elite would be governed by the ignorant regressive majority. In this case, empowering educated and moderate reformers while spreading education and enforcing a balanced law of rewards and punishment could lead people to the right path while providing them with the time to develop and evolve until they reach their equilibrium of economic and cultural development. We should learn from our mistakes and keep hoping for a better future. Every culture has a key to development; we only need to find the right one and give it time to work. We have already seen what happens as a result of rushing through development; this time we need to wait, so at least our children or even our grandchildren can have better lives. The writer can be reached at [email protected]
