Guest Speaker Shares His Saudi Arabia Experience
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Author: Jenniver Weaver
Released 27 July 2004
CEDAR CITY -- Richard Reed said he never experienced any form of
anti-American sentiments while working in Saudi Arabia for 26 years at Arabian
American Oil Company (Aramco); not even during Desert Storm, 9-11 terrorist
attacks on the World Trade Centers or the Afghanistan War following.
The former engineer in management was the guest speaker of the Cedar City
Rotary Club. Though the decapitation last month of American hostage Paul Johnson
Jr. has brought attention to terrorist insurgence in Riyadh -- the city in which
he resided -- Reed holds fonder memories that are contrary to the recent
violence exhibited.
"I've had many experiences where the people were very nice, warm, deep-down
people," Reed said.
But Reed admits he has become concerned since he and his family left the
Middle Eastern country a year ago.
"Security was definitely becoming an issue when we left. We didn't leave the
compound much and we did get a little nervous during the turmoil," he said.
Reed chose to focus on the positive aspects of the Arab Muslim nation with
more than 20 million people, including a large foreign workforce of Pakistanis,
Filipinos, and Sri Lankans. He presented a slide show of Riyadh, the Red Sea,
and citizens in traditional dress while expressing his love for the arid, desert
area.
Though the Arabic language is the language of all Saudis, English was
commonly spoken, Reed said. The only expression he knew how to say in Arabic
was, "Where is the bathroom?" What he said he wanted the Rotarians to come away
with from his presentation was the insight into the culture and national pride
of the people he said has been misrepresented from negative exposure by the
media.
"I think the media has misinterpreted the Saudis," Reed said. "What I have
come to know is that people are the same here in Cedar City as they are in a
city of similar size in Saudi Arabia. They get up each morning, get ready for
work, and for school...The main difference is the culture in which they do it.
But we are all similar in nature."