22K Gold Freedom

As a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) expatriate, upon returning to the United States, I took off a 22K gold bracelet and laid it on top of my purse. I left both on a bench in an art and botanical center and invited my mom to walk with me so we could get a picture together. She pointed to my items. I said with certainty, “No one will touch my things.” The surprise on her face reminded me I was no longer in a society where my personal safety hummed quietly in the background, omnipresent. Her alarm was my repatriation.

The U.S. has seen an erosion of the middle class; American freedoms, such as to protest, are not providing high-quality of life for the majority of citizens proportional to the total wealth of the country. We have lessons we could learn from all over the world. In highlighting a blueprint from “the Middle East,” I seek to dismantle stigma and promote peace. Although I was born in the U.S. and grew up with movies and news reports highlighting violence and fear from and of Muslims and Arabs, I would ask that you consider this thought disruption. My time in the Gulf taught me what citizens and residents there do not fear: crime, having housing, or medical debt.

In the Gulf, most crime is solved. When my family member in the U.S. had her credit card number stolen, the thief ordered online and had items delivered to his home. The police took her report, confirmed the details (such as having his address!) but then declined to make an arrest as the criminal lived in another state and the amount stolen was not enough for the district attorney to bother with paperwork. In the Gulf, men leave their wallets and keys on the hood of their car when they go for a swim–a casual display of trust in a system that is unthinkable on American shorelines.

In the Gulf, by having one’s needs met, society becomes polished and you interact with beauty and frictionless ease in multiple settings. Lighting is indirect and varied based on time of day, biophilic design in public spaces, presentation of food in restaurants and to-go orders, cleanliness of vehicles in the city, expectations of dress in public. Sidewalks are swept. Roofs are washed. Comparing this to the decay of subways in the US is no comparison. In an American city, when at a hotel for a conference, the first thing I do is ask the concierge where I can walk during the day and where I can’t walk ever, if I decide to go out exploring or want to walk off nerves before presenting. Despite being in top-tier hotels, oases of elegance and calm, not one in a major US city has ever said to me, go wherever you like, it is safe. In the GCC I traveled by myself—bus, walking, taxi, driving—as I pleased. Not once was I told it was not safe for a woman alone. City spaces and public transportation in the U.S. breed noise, dirt, decay and palpable tension. In an additional failure of the American system, people are allowed to exist without a home or in a cycle of untreated pathology–a failing of state that leads to unpredictable, unsafe and unhygienic public spaces that are absent in the Gulf.

Sheikhs are strong leaders, expecting compliance, but they build infrastructure, set a vision and imbue agility into governance that serve the governed: locals, investors and foreign workers. My business associate, a local Arab, can issue a work visa in two hours. It took me six weeks to receive a driver’s license in the U.S. Social trust is expected as infrastructure in the Gulf: Society is designed for all the family to feel safe and comfortable in public. Wish to experiment in some manner that is unconventional or outside of traditional values? Yes, in the Gulf you ought to adhere to being a polite member of society–neither public displays of affection, swearing nor lewd gestures are permissible in public, but your private space is yours to curate. Privacy in your personal dwelling is inviolable. Landlords do not have a key to your apartment. (Get locked out? You need to call and pay for a locksmith yourself.) Yes, there is no arguing with authority. And so what does that mean?

Police do not pull you over to issue a fine; instead, a camera tracks your speed and if you are speeding, issues you a fine to your online account–egalitarian. Not a local resident, there on a work visa and continue to break laws? You will get kicked out of the country. If you came on a visa and continue to not positively contribute to society, then you cannot stay. Yes, the government will take your money for fines, but the GCC charges no tax on earnings and has one of the lowest incarceration rates, while the U.S. has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. The U.S. is reactive. The Gulf is proactive in terms of safety, and privacy is an expectation. In the U.S. privacy is a legal battle; you cannot even go to a gym without potentially being in someone else’s TikTok–surveillance by the masses.

The kafala system is the sponsorship framework binding an immigrant’s work residency to an employer. A Western colleague admitted he assumed human rights violations because he assumes the worst of random individuals in the Gulf. Curiously, he maintains optimism for service employees in the West as he assumes random patrons will fill the void left from inadequate government wage protections. He thinks that treating stakeholders and boards like people will result in a trickle-down economy (instead of just a trick economy).

Medical facilities in the Gulf promote wellness, maintain your privacy and offer alternative prescriptions, other than those in pill form. Hospitals have cafes, art and cultivated vegetation. Beaches have showers and changing rooms. Permanent parks and ephemeral experience exhibits are built for enjoyment and accessible at reasonable prices. The result is a delight for the senses.

At the Museum of the Future in Dubai, I saw a space inviting leaders to come and talk about world problems and how to address global concerns through systemic innovation. In an amphitheater front seat to accelerated world heating, science is not debated by philistines with megaphones, it is harnessed. Is oil consumption and the high use of air conditioning in the Gulf contributing to the problem? Undoubtedly. I am not suggesting the Gulf is without flaw or that the U.S. needs to adopt every facet of their governance. I am merely highlighting tweaks for the Western gaze to consider–allowing us to see foreign places as nuanced, functional and not needing our war machine.

When psychological, safety, love, and belonging needs are in place, the people and the society are able to pursue purpose, deepen connection and chase meaning. GCC built world destinations in some of the harshest climates. They push the boundaries of what is possible. Build an island? Sure, why not. 40,000 residents are presently connected to the mainland with an underwater bridge. In the GCC about 20% of the population is local Arab. 80% are foreigners from all over the world who move for the higher paycheck, traditional family values, safety, luxury or to invest.

In the West we use the word freedom as a badge. We have the theological right to influence government but see stagnation of progress, old irrelevant laws rarely repealed, and the government shuts down. In the Gulf I saw a tangible right to a functional life.

As we evolve, let us look abroad to the lessons we can learn from other ways of being and elevate our society. Let us see the sovereignty of our neighbors and bring some of their beauty by design into our own lives. Allow us to hone our moral compass and not lose social treasures in pursuit of stolen physical treasures.

As I started with a story, allow me to close with one.

The air rich with meaning, and the burning of oud wafting tendrils of smoke that rise up to curl around us, we sipped qahwa.

While an intricate qanun played in the distance, the Arab businessman with me adjusted his ghutra. With old eyes, he said,

“Americans are lucky. When they go to war, they always find treasure… oil or gold.”

May this thought disruptor remind us of the sovereignty of our neighbors and help us renew the call for peace.