Abdullah Al-Maghlouth Al-Eqtisadiah I love taking taxis and listening to the stories of cabdrivers. I remember once I took a cab in Riyadh and the driver, Abdulrahman Al-Shammary, told me how he had ended up in this line of work. He moved from Makkah to Riyadh around 19 years ago because his son, Yousif, who had graduated from high school could not get into the School of Medicine of King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, but was accepted at King Saud University in Riyadh. In the beginning, Yousif stayed alone in Riyadh for a few months, but he could not adapt to life there. He missed his father, mother and other members of his family which affected his performance at the university. For love of his son, Al-Shammary decided to retire early and move to Riyadh to be with Yousif and act as a moral support. The other family members stayed in Makkah because they could not come at that time. However, Al-Shammary took care of Yousif, cooking his food and washing his clothes. A few years later, the rest of the family moved to Riyadh so that they could all live under the same roof. Al-Shammary's other son, Mishari, enrolled in KSU's School of Medicine as well. One of Al-Shammary's sons is now a pediatrician and the other is a surgeon. Their sister will graduate from the School of Dentistry in a few months. Al-Shammary told me that he chose to invest in his children instead of investing in any business. His exacts words were: “We may end up regretting an investment in business, but we will never regret an investment in our children.” The father sacrificed his government job for the future of his children. Some parents think that spending money on their children is the right thing to do, while forgetting how important it is to spend time with their children. If Al-Shammary had not spent a lot of time with his children and had not made so many sacrifices, would his children be doctors today? I learned a great lesson from that cabdriver. Every mark and wrinkle on his face tells a story of the pain he had to suffer in order to be able to see his children where they are today.
