Perhaps a look at case studies of societies that have out-paced us will make us realize that many interdependent elements had factored in their development; political, economic, social and scientific. However, these elements, despite their variations, branched out of one common and essential core; culture. This culture is shaped by its own organic development, our traditions, our attitudes, our ability to excel and be creative, our society’s willingness to accept creativity and new ideas, our strategies in dealing with ambiguities and obstacles, our understanding of national pride, our definition of failure, and our optimism and pessimism. A development strategy that neglects the importance of the cultural factor is bound to failure.

Although there are some variations within Yemeni customs and traditions, many parts of Yemen continued to be isolated from other cultures for a long time. Any lack of cultural diversity in Yemen is, most likely, a product of this isolation.

If we were to start our path into understanding what, within our culture, had held us back from improving we would start with our first cultural woe namely, suffocating any potential for creativity. We became content with the status quo; we shunned anything that is new, discouraged change and gave in to our fear of the unfamiliarity of new ideas. Our automobiles are either white or red, our haircut is uniformed, our clothes are similar, political parties and organizations work in the same fashion despite any superficial differences and our businesses are exact copies of each other; passed on from father to son. Any divergence from what is familiar is odd; an attempt to draw unnecessary attention to oneself. Our mind’s ability to create opportunities and find solutions is narrowed by this fear of change.

This first woe leads us to our second woe, our unwillingness to embrace new ideas, we aim low and avoid risks. It wasn’t so long ago that our grandfathers lived in the simple living standards of the imamate times –food, shelter and a governmental job kept them content. Unfortunately our grandfathers’ content with basic necessities passed on to us and kept our expectations low and our aims even lower. Our reluctance to maneuver through life; taking risks and delving into what is unfamiliar, is depriving us from the first step to change and improvement.

Our third woe is a product of the latter one, the lack of trust in our ability to succeed and our refusal to learn from errors. Both, the short history of Yemeni success stories and the lack of inspirational figures make any youthful dreams fall into deep doubts in any possibility for success. Even if there were some Yemeni success stories, they are mostly of people who had found success outside of Yemen. Unfortunately, instead of learning from the errors of those who had fell short of success we allow ourselves to fall into self-doubt and failure.

Consequently, if we were to search into the reasons behind our reluctance to experiment, we will find that that is closely related to our fourth woe, the overshadowing of the group over the individual. Perhaps this communal culture is one of our society’s fundamental assets, but it has turned into slavery to the community and a constant need to satisfy it at the price of the individual’s freedom. The inevitable conclusion of such undermining of the importance of the individual is to give in to the community’s norms and established ways.

Finally, our fifth woe, and the most dangerous of all, is not taking pride in our Yemeni national identity. We don’t think highly enough of ourselves anymore. We feel our culture is inadequate compared to other nations. Abroad, we teach others silly jokes and obscene words, as though we have no history or rich culture to impress people with. Whether we like to admit it or not, we have become burdened by who we are. It is important to note however, that there is a good reason for such low self-esteem, it lies in our feelings of cultural regression and lack of scientific and technological accomplishments in the modern world.

We are chained by these woes; they hold us back from exploring the fast-paced world around us. Solutions will only come when we start understanding ourselves, our behaviors, attitudes and reasons behind our daily decisions that are heavily effected by these woes…

…But after this self-understanding is reached, do we develop? No, but it is only then that we become prepared to accept development.

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