Tuesday, September 04, 2007

The Society of Sophistication

I was performing my usual routine of reading through the news, when I came across this article, and it literally blew me away!!

Apparently, the Irish, seeing how regular chewing gum is costing the government a small fortune in cleaning and removing from the streets and public places, decided to start a 10-year long research project to find out how to create bio-degradable chewing gum.

It's nothing spectacular, and it may qualify for an entry in Riplye's Believe it or Not, but it does show a society with a level of social sophistication that is so high that they have actually combined the academic efforts in order to resolve a seamingly trivial issue such as removing gum patches on pavements.

Meanwhile, back in Kuwait, we have government and private companies tasked with removing garbage, paid by the government in unrealistic prices, and they don't even separate the recyclable trash from the normal trash for that money. Instead, they're more comfortable in paying expat street sweeper meagre salaries-ripping them off in the process-and leaving them to succumb to ONLY sweeping those streets that have traffic signals so they can grab some tips from the motorists! And let's not forget all those empty soft drink cans and stolen potholes that end up in metal reclamation plants in the "haraj" area of Jahra..
Oh, and one more thing; Isn't it a tad strange to find a thriving housing project near an international Airport and near active cemetaries and landfills? (Pass by the Sulaibikhat Cemetary some time, and you'll see what I mean!), while the Government looks towards building multi-billion KD towns like the Madinat Al Hareer, especially when there are a dozen or so unused cemetaries within Kuwait City (and within the thriving financial district, no less!) that are prime locations for either apartment buildings, office space or public parking, not to mention that Kuwait is a desert, which means acres and acres of development-capable land?!?
...am I getting to that age when everything is a cause for complaint and bickering??

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes that doesn't neccessarily mean sophistication by the Irish but you gotta hand it to them, they are trying hard to incorporate wat they learn to real life & make use of their nation - envolvement I mean.. as for here, I dun'wanna say something ba3dein police come n' drag me men el beit :)

Intlxpatr said...

Kuwait has so much potential. Wasta creates so much waste, though, and holds the country back from swift progress to full potential.