Creation of hope!

Hussein Shobokshi WE have entered the New Year amid troubling and disturbing atmosphere; this is the least that can be said about the situation in the Middle East region. Let us take a quick look at “the quality” of challenges that are being faced by the Arab governments today: Unemployment, the fight against terrorism, resistance to militancy, population growth, war against corruption, eradication of poverty, illiteracy and combating inflation; all of which are important issues and reflect the nature of challenges that are facing the region. However, the most significant challenge that we do not give enough attention to is “creation of hope”. If we look at “hope” from a commodity point of view it seems that there is a “very severe shortage” of it. The Arab region lacks hope. It is difficult for any nation to stand out, prosper and produce without having any hope. It is clear that hope is absent in the minds and hearts of young people and adults in the Arab world, large numbers of whom are increasingly in favor of immigration and asylum in other countries around the world. This is due to lack of investment in the region from local and international stakeholders, which is a cause of fear and anxiety at the same time. If ministries and commissions of welfare and happiness are needed then there is also the utmost necessity of instilling hope and inspiration in the people. There are quite a number of studies and indicators in the industrialized world that stresses the importance of motivating and keeping up the high optimism in creativity and production among the youth, a theme that was intelligently used by US President Barack Obama in his first presidential campaign and his slogan “Yes We Can” was successfully applied to achieve an amazing election result. Obama played with hope and the search for it. Any extreme cynical views expressed by people, especially in the social media communication by today’s generation, are psychological signs of expression of anxiety, fear and despair. Creation of hope has its foundation and some nations have achieved that successfully. In the World War II, the economy of Japan and Germany was devastated but the two nations raised the spirit of its people and restored hope in their industries. They restructured the whole community effectively and transformed themselves into great success stories. What happened in Japan and Germany, also happened in the United States of America after the Great Depression in 1929. American President Franklin Roosevelt urged his people and raised their hope from zero level and succeeded in bringing about the most important shift in the US economic history. Creating optimism is not just empty slogans but an implementation of a series of projects and its legislation to achieve a quantum leap to a dignified life for the citizens, to spark creativity and trigger the imagination of the people for an impressive production in the industry. As we entered the New Year, building hope must be a gift for the New Year.