Re: UAE/AERC (my final stupid remarks)

["Sandy Bolinger" <bolinger@bigsky.net>]

Thank you Ti!  Years ago I spent a year in Morocco traveling around the
country on mules and donkeys...the people we camped with were Arabs and
Bedouins. We took the time to learn their different languages enough so we
could communicate. The most important lesson I took away from that adventure
was never to judge a people and their culture until you immersed yourself in
it. And I would have had to spend many more years immersed before I could
come close to fully comprehending their culture. Ti has been good enough to
give us a tiny peek into where these people are coming from..It's ridiculous
for any of us to pass judgement until we've done the homework...

----- Original Message -----
From: <Tivers@aol.com>
To: <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2001 1:50 AM
Subject: RC: UAE/AERC (my final stupid remarks)


> In a message dated 3/27/01 10:42:23 PM Pacific Standard Time,
> Howard4567@aol.com writes:
>
> << With the UAE, it's not clear.  At least not to me.  What I was trying
to
> say
>  was if it's not clear why they're sponsoring the FEI sanctioning of our
>  National Championship, then there is the perception, by some, that
>  something's not right.  And some might wonder why the UAE would do such a
>  thing.  What's the motive?
>
>  If one entity pours tons of money into something, don't you think there
> might
>  be strings attached?  The rich (like I would know) don't throw money
around
>  just to make others happy.  They, usually, have their own agenda. >>
>
>
> In my first post to this group in about a year, I carefully explained what
I
> perceive to be the UAE's goal for the endurance sport--they want to bring
it
> to a level where it could be accepted as an Olympic event. The FEI appears
to
> be the appropriate vehicle for reaching that objective.
>
> Don't confuse these people with "the rich". 35 years ago the Maktoums and
the
> Zayeds were bedouins. As tribal chiefs, Sheikhs Zayed and Maktoum, and
thier
> fathers before them, were responsible for the well-being and happiness of
the
> people of their tribes, their Emirates. They DID pass wealth around to
make
> people happy, and they still do. For the past 30 years they have focused
the
> bulk of their spending on building the infrastructure of their now-united
> country, bringing it into the modern world. They've been quite successful,
as
> a visit to Abu Dhabi or Dubai will adequately demonstrate.
>
> But there is much more to do, and time is against them--one day the oil
money
> will diminish and then be gone. If the Emirates are to survive thereafter,
> they have to be established internationally as a center of trade--an
economic
> bridge between East and West. As I perceive it, that is the agenda, and it
is
> a worthy one. They are well on their way.
>
> It is not a side-issue that the Emiratis love sport. Muslims cannot
gamble,
> drink, or otherwise participate in activities their religion considers
> immoral. Sport is clean and wholesome entertainment and it affords them an
> opportunity for another international presence--good advertising for a
> country of less than 3 million residents and fewer than 300,000 citizens
> (Emiratis).
>
> As luck would have it, they are fond of endurance racing. It fits their
> culture--35 years ago, a 100 miole trek through the desert was an arduous
and
> dangerous enterprise. If you sit around the dinner table with an Emirati
> family you hear stories about desert travel in the old times, before oil.
> There were no GPS's, the desert was essentially featureless and they
> navigated by the position of the stars and the moon. And when there was
cloud
> cover, you were lost. One survival story that was passed on to me at one
> dinner table was of a grandfather who decided to turn loose the camels and
> let them lead the group to sweet water and life. And if you travel the
desert
> today, you occasionally run across the bones of a camel that didn't find
> sweet water and date palms in time.
>
> So, endurance is a reflection of what people of the desert are all about,
> culturally. That is, REAL endurance. The genuine article. Life or death.
And
> the Emiratis would like to see this sport elevated to Olympic caliber. So
> they encourage, and pay for, worldwide competition under international
rules
> in an attempt to lift a somewhat ragtag and disorganized sport to a higher
> plane.
>
> In doing this, there are limitations the Emiratis must face. In summer,
> temperatures of 140 degrees are not uncommon, even in the cities by the
sea.
> You can't really condition a horse in that kind of heat, and you can't
> compete in it either. So the Emiratis have to depend on other
"professionals"
> in other locales, to build good horses during the summer and to hold
> year-round competitions. This, if you decide to accept the assignment, is
> where you come in. Where the Aussies and Germans and French and Italians
and
> Swedes--where the rest of the world comes in. All that is necessary is
that
> everyone plays strictly by the same rules, so that the sport can present a
> united and well-organized front to an Olympic committee.
>
> When we assign motives to others we often do so by reflecting on our own
> motivations. Particularly if we know nothing about those whom we are quick
to
> judge. One of the more sickening aspects of an open forum like this is
that
> you are exposed to the obvious and transparent frailties of human nature.
A
> certain ugly baseness arises on occasion that leaves an unpleasant smell
> behind. For the sake of everyone's comfort, it would be useful if the very
> vocal here would take just a little more time to think rather than to
type.
>
> ti
>
>
>
> Tom Ivers, President
> Equine Racing Systems, Inc.
>  <A HREF="http://www.equineracing.com/">ERS Home Page</A>
>
> To sign up for the horsescience mailing list:
>  <A HREF="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/horsescience">
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/horsescience</A>
>
>
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
> Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
> Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>