Page 465 - Neglected Arabia (1906-1910)

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Freedom to speak, to think, to do, freedom forf :n and tor
women, true freedom—i. e., not tlie unlimited freedom of the jackal
of the desert; that is license, but the limited freedom of the ship
moving majestically, but bound by the river banks, or the freedom
cf the tree, bearing luscious fruit, but bound and rooted to the
earth.
! This, then, is our civilization. It consists of facility of inter­
! course and living, universal education, and freedom.
i
What are the causes thereof?
(i) The Occidental has the power of initiative. He can begin.
That requires courage, individual courage. Why has the Occi-

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woman’s dispensary clinic, busrah.

dental this trait? Because he has no past, no great and glorious
past. Therefore, he does not revere the past, and is not bound by
it. He must depend upon the present and the future for his reputa­
tion. But the Oriental is not so. His past is hidden in the mists
before history began. It is a great and glorious past—a past when
his forefathers walked and talked with God, ages and ages before
the Occident came into being. Surfeited and satisfied with this
glorious past, the Oriental has fallen into a deep sleep. He needs
only to be awakened. To come back to the point in hand. The
Oriental has not the power of initiative. I hear many of my
Oriental friends in Busrah suggest new ideas, new plans, but they
never begin.