jordan pulse -

By Prof. Ali Hayasat

Backward nations still have hope. China was once hungry, so it decided to eat the world. Singapore was a forgotten colony, and turned itself into a financial hub. And us? We are different. We invented a unique recipe: we live in crises as if they are daily decorations, and we enjoy complaining as if it is the soundtrack of our existence.

A power cut? We become philosophers. Traffic jam? We post existential musings from inside the car. Prices rise? We curse life, then spend the evening in a fancy café paying the same as an entire month’s electricity bill. We practise misery like a national sport, and sigh heavily as if it were our anthem.

We protest against corruption, yet treat wasta as part of our identity. We condemn poor management, yet fail to manage a family gathering. We complain about the cost of living, yet compete over who throws the biggest wedding—even if the groom ends up indebted for life. Even funerals turn into social festivals, as if death were a chance to showcase status.

We want a perfect state, but cannot endure a five-minute queue. We want a strong economy, but consume more than we produce. We want fair politics, but contribute nothing beyond fiery Facebook comments while avoiding the ballot box.

The bitter truth? We are not backward. The backward can still catch up. We are different: we run with enthusiasm in the wrong direction, then wonder why we never arrive.

That is the tragic comedy: a society that worships appearances, thrives on complaint, and inflates every small crisis into a Hollywood saga. We master the role of victim, and repeat it with pleasure. But the world does not wait for victims; it moves forward, while we sit clapping, sighing, and sinking deeper into the past—overpriced coffee in hand.

In short: we are not a backward nation, but a nation in crisis. Different from the world the way a lazy spectator differs from the runner on the track. Both share the same space, but only one runs toward the future. The other just sighs and applauds.