Freedom... what is it anyway?

There are a lot of freedoms here:

You have a freedom to be removed from the political process which realistically you are not very involved in anyway. You don’t have to listen to people make promises so that they may have power, but rather you get to hear about visions and strategies from those that will continue to hold power. You don’t have to hear how your money is being spent without your consent as a tax payer, but rather you hear how the country’s money is being invested for the future of the country.

You have freedom to not be afraid. Afraid that all your worldly possessions will be removed from your home by someone other than a removals company when you are actually going “home”. Afraid that if you forget to lock your door, it means something else apart from “oh, I forgot to lock the door”. Afraid to walk down the road at night because some “kid/s” may bash you for your shoes, mobile phone, wallet, or maybe just because you looked at them the wrong way.

You have the freedom from financial burden. The only financial issues you have are in your home country, but you know while you are here you will never have to miss a bill or have to postpone a rental payment. You have the freedom to live rather to merely survive.

You also have a freedom from ignorance. While many Emiratis are not worldly, I have not heard one of my students suggest a dislike for anyone or any race of people. Case in point is fact that some of my students have gone as far to say that they love the USA (including one that had to leave after 9/11 due to harassment on a college campus), but dislike like their politics or foreign policy goes some way to show that they are more worldly than many think. They want to learn and don’t feel as if they know all there is to know about the world.

You have freedom from “official” harassment. Police are not on the roads trying to constantly raise revenue and parking attendants are not waiting around the corners for an opportunity to clamp your car or check whether you overstayed your parking allotment by 30 seconds. You also have the freedom to find a nice shady bit of grass without being accused of loitering!

I think freedom is rather relative and instead of looking on this region comparing it to ones home country, you need to take it for what it is. If this is a “developing” country still, and “developing” seems in part to relate to Westernisation, I hope it doesn’t develop too much!