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Client: Tawasul
Advert title(s): Tawasul Fragile data
Creative Agency: Paragon Marketing Communications, Salmiya, Kuwait
Chief Creative Officer: Louai Alasfahani
Creative Director/ Photographer : Konstantin Assenov
Copywriter: Wasim Khan
Illustrator: Huzaifa S. Kakumama
Other additional credits: Diana George
Published (Month, Year): 7, 2009
Thx Paragon MC team

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its summer, its hot, we know that… you traveled for a week or two, but like all good things, it comes to an end, and you are back home, what do you do? how about continuing your vacation here in kuwait! sound impossible? listen of what we thought about it.

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Around this time of year I like nothing better than to laze around the house and watch TV with a cold drink in my hand. Summer encourages inaction in me and I’m sure it does the same for many other people. But inaction isn’t just a problem we have in the summer.

Inaction. People who do nothing. It’s what I see when I go to get any official paperwork done. It’s what I see when I have anything government-related I need doing. And worse, it’s what I see when honestly good people tell me that they really care about the maids abuse issue in Kuwait.

But why do all of us have a culture of inaction here? Sure we know that citizens are well provided for by the government and sometimes extreme wealth encourages laziness of a sort. Even some middle class expats live a far more luxurious lifestyle here than they would back home and this makes us lazy.

But there is still a subset of the population that are naturally hard-working, motivated and skilled. And no amount of wealth should be able to deter them from action. There are Kuwaiti citizens who care deeply about the maids abuse situation in Kuwait, but the sad truth is very few have done anything to change it.

Passionate Individuals + A cause they care about = Action

Logically, that’s how it should be. But what is standing in their way?

Lack of time? Sometimes daily responsibilities, work, family life take up a lot of time. But think about it - there will never be a time in your life when you don’t have responsibilities. Conditions will never be just as you want them to be.

And thinking you’d like to do something but haven’t the time will doom the task straight away. One hour on a weekend visiting the injured maids at Al-Razi hospital is not eating up your life.
“Don’t wait, the time will never be just right” - Napolean Hill, American Author

Perhaps you are waiting for the political situation to take care of the problem? Perhaps this is a job only for the lawmakers and parliament and really what can one person do? Maybe there is a sort of fear in getting involved?

One person can save a handful of people - but that’s a handful of families and whole communities when you look at it. You are being an example to your own people and to your children as well.

When it comes to getting things done we need fewer architects and more bricklayers - Colleen C. Barrett

Over the last year I have heard dear friends talk about raising awareness, starting an NGO, visiting hospitals - and a year later not one of those plans has even seen a beginning to action. Mostly due to the reasons above.

There is one more reason I think people become inactive. Disillusionment.
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Allow me to illustrate a case:

My friend Hamad (not his real name) was a big fan of English Literature in school - particularly Shakespeare. He did fairly well in school but after graduation, for want of opportunity within the country, his life began centering around all-male coffee shops, shisha and hanging out. In time, he was only hanging out with Kuwaitis, because few other nationalities frequent these coffeeshops.

Now he barely speaks English. His mates include a boy who has had to travel several times to the States to get his stomach stapled, and (no joke) someone who used to ‘molest’ younger boys as a teenager. Bizarre? Surreal? Completely true. Hamad and I don’t talk anymore because he has become extremely conservative. When he got married he didn’t want me to meet his wife. That pretty much put an end to our friendship and - at least one avenue of Kuwaiti-Expat friendship. Hamad has been in KU for 7 years, trying to become a doctor over and over again. He used to be my best friend. Now he is a victim of inaction.
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So here’s my thought - people have so much to offer in Kuwait. But if it isn’t the wealth that leads to inaction, then its lack of awareness. If not that, then thoughts that others will handle it, that it isn’t the right time yet. And if it isn’t that, it’s that their own talents were shut down again and again until they really don’t WANT to offer anything to society anymore. What’s the point. Why try?

When you get the chance, read over the cases in this blog again. People are dying and they are dying in your neighbourhood. People are being tortured on your street. Murderers and rapists inhabit your space. It’s not TV - it’s real.

What is stopping you?

Please do write in and tell me your thoughts. This blog post has not just been a reflection, it’s a question and I would really like to know the answers.

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing. - Albert Einstein

All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing. - Edmund Burke

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Client: Fasttelco
Advert title(s): “Fastest”, “Infinity” & “Or connect”.
Creative Agency: Paragon Marketing Communications, Kuwait
Chief Creative Officer: Louai Alasfahani
Creative Director: Konstantin Assenov
Copywriter: Wasim Khan
Illustrator: Huzaifa S. Kakumama
Other additional credits: Diana George
Published (Month, Year): 7, 2009
Thx Paragon MC team

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