The Lack of Independence in Today’s Youth

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “So much attention is paid to the aggressive sins, such as violence and cruelty and greed with all their tragic effects, that too little attention is paid to the passive sins, such as apathy and laziness, which in the long run can have a more devastating and destructive effect upon society than the others.” Laziness is in fact harmful in the long run. It leads to lack of dependency, which can cause drastic consequences to society. This is why solutions must be identified to solve the dilemma of dependency on others in today’s youth, particularly in the United Arab Emirates, where this problem prevails.

The question to address in reference to this topic is what caused the lack of independency in the UAE society’s youth? As a result of my observations and personal experiences, my general answer would be that Emarati parents have raised their kids to fully depend on anyone but themselves. I agree with this statement to the fullest extent because I believe that parents are role models to their children. The following quote affirms that, “Many children grow up slovenly and lazy because they’ve learned the patterns from their parents.” Laziness. Retrieved April 9 2007, from http://www.livinglifefully.com/laziness.html. Moreover, housemaids or nannies are extremely depended on in terms of housing chores. An example of this is would be an incident that occurred when I was visiting a friend of mine. Her younger brother ordered the maid to go and get him the remote which was less than four meters away. I think house chores should be divided equally among members of the household. In my opinion housemaids are not hired to do everything for particular households, but rather to help out in households where both working parents who have no time to contribute to house work. A supportive opinion to my argument that housemaids should not be held responsible for full contribution to housework is the opinion of the well-known businessman Mr. Abdulghaffar Hussain [Founder and CEO of Green Coast Enterprises] who stated that “U.A.E.’s children should learn to depend on themselves and not on maids…a maid’s job is to help out with the housework, not to be the slave of teenagers who are too lazy to get themselves their own glass of water.” Furthermore, when asked about his own experiences as a teenager and how he compares himself to today’s youth, Mr. Hussain declared that he was an “independent, responsible, adolescent” who applied for his first job at the age of fourteen, because according to him, all that was provided for him by his parents were “the necessities”, which include his school education and his needs for survival; everything else he had to get on his own. “I thank my parents for not spoiling me with luxuries, as that forced me to depend on myself and become liable. If not for that I would not be where I am now [One of the most successful business men in the United Arab Emirates].” Mr. Hussain’s example should be taken into serious consideration by our youth, as he is a representation of self-determination and independence of which today’s generation sincerely lack.

Does the reliance of our youth on everyone but themselves guide them towards the responsibility and independency aimed at by their society? No. Parents in the U.A.E. are expected provide everything for their children, from allowances, which are received by the children with no contribution to the household on their behalf whatsoever, to the housing provided for them even after marriage, to the wanted goods and services given to them blindly with no bargain in terms of chores. Therefore, as one cause leads to the other, children have no incentive to work hard for what they want as everything is easily given to them on a silver platter. This leads to the average first job of a UAE national being after graduating from university, and not any time before. Statistics state that the aforementioned applies to more than 70% of today’s youth. Some would argue however, that this is an advantage, as a college degree would provide better job opportunities. That being said, I still think that individuals should gain at least some work experience before graduating from college.

To every action there is a reaction just like to every cause there is a consequence, which can be summarized by recognizing our useless society with an irresponsible new generation. No life experiences are gained by the UAE youth as they have not been put through situations where they were forced to work hard for a want or a need. This results in their live’s being all about luxuries and cash. Cole, a psychologist in the article “Should Parents Bail out their Adult Kids” by L. Weston, strongly debates her opinion on this issue in her rhetorical question, “will the money help your child eventually become more self sufficient? Or will it just lead to more requests