For Sunday June 3^rd 2012

 Between Us Only! (Outlook)

The Doha Mall Disaster. 

• The ink of the Scholar is more holy than the blood of the martyr – The Hadith (Islamic Sayings).
• Leave to themselves those who do not give any importance to the Divine – and have adopted and consider it as mere play and amusement – The Hadith.
• That person will not enter Paradise who hath one atom of pride in his heart! – Again The Hadith.
• Commonsense is not so common – Voltaire.
• Words once printed, have a life of their own – Carol Burnett
• Those that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it – George Santayana
• I’m dying – one of the three Filipino teachers trapped in the fire told her aunt in a text message – before she succumbed to her death.
• The children are trapped, the smoke is too thick – Another Filipino teacher to her husband.

Below Images – Villaggio Mall – Doha Qatar.

Images – Tne Triplets that Perished in the fire – and their Parents (New Zealand)

I was reading this article about the fire that had broken out last Monday at the nursery school in the Qatari capital Doha in the city’s Villaggio Mall. In a press conference held in the city on Monday evening – the Qatar’s Government confirmed that 19 had perished: 13 children, four teachers and two civil defence workers. A further 17 people were injured in the fire – four of them children and a number of civil defence workers.

No explanation over how the fire had started has yet been provided. The victims included people from Spain, Japan, the Philippines, Benin and Arab countries – not including Qatar, the officials said.

Two-year old triplets from New Zealand – Lillie, Jackson and Willsher Weekes – have also been confirmed as being among those that were left dead after this huge fire at this shopping mall. “Lillie, Jackson and Willsher came into this world together and were inseparable as siblings, best friends and the joy of our life,” the heart-broken and the tragic couple said in a statement to the Press at the place – and to consoling friends.

More Images Below

Amongst the alleged lapses (1) Mall employees not acting fast enough when the fire erupted – (2) Fire alarms did not go off or rang faintly – (3) No emergency exists at place of fire – (4) No drawings available – (5) The kindergarten was not known to have existed nor was legally sanctioned to be in this mall – (6) Some of the sprinklers in the mall malfunctioned and fire exit doors were locked – and several others.

It is definitely a great tragedy and one can but just imagine the terrible grief and agony that their parents – and the other victims’ families – are facing now – when such young innocent lives are swept away and lost in this way.

About two years back, I was going to this Mall to check on if any of my books were sold still yet at this shopping mall in town. I had written an article about this – because I forgot where I had parked my car. The Omani young boy and girl had really helped me out to locate the car – after pointing it out to them in the security cameras.

It was then easy for them to give me a lift in their car trolley to my parked car. What really impressed me the most was first for them to identify myself as the real owner of the car – and seeing all these cameras watching all the scenes going on – which I would assume there were no blind corners or invisible places not covered by the cameras! It was a great wake-up call for me on the realities and practicalities of life. Sometimes in life we think we know everything – and no one can fool us – but there is still out there far much to learn still – and catch up!

Zakheir Mall Oman Images Below

In the week before that we had the incident at Zakher Mall too in town. We see every day about places that have mysteriously have caught fires – and the usual culprit is blamed to be an electric short circuit. Like in many people – I used to be sarcastic and cynical on this – until I saw it live – at one of the places I used to work when the ceiling lights caught fire – presumably because they have been kept on running for too long – day in and day out.

Like we the Arabs like to say also always in this thing – from the stomach of evil came blessings – and that is how my last Arab Management book – A Cry For Help! – came into being – www.myown-ebooks.com. It was another wake-up call for me on human foibles, vanity and weaknesses – vileness, deceit and betrayals – and truthfully nothing more surprised me any more – even the ominous and sort of prophesied in the book one year later – the Arab Spring Uprisings – and thus the title of the book in a cry for help!

It is well understandable that some maybe asking at this particular juncture where is the relationship and the correlation between a mall fire and my books – and perhaps am just finding excuses to propagate and push my books at any possibility? Let me connect the dots and in explaining myself here – if you will give me the chance to do so!

The question that I need to pose here is this. Why do we take things for granted and for surety that nothing can or may happen – until it really does happen – and it does – and again we are caught surprised and unawares – again and again – and all go into fire-fighting and reactive mode? What is this curse on us now? Instead of being pragmatic and active – and as we all know prevention is far better than cure – and if even the cure will work – and if not too late already – or the damage and repercussions have already taken place?

How many times people have written about employees being unhappy at the workplaces? How many times people have written – and spoken too – about how we carry our young children to schools – and how they are being treated in schools too? Accidents about to happen – as the headings go! Even the nurseries and the kindergarten are not spared even! Even live photos and videos are shown – yet we do not still see! It goes in to one ear and out from the other! Till something dastardly and big happens – and the learning curve is again short lived. Till the next time!

There are same or similar situations existing in the Private Schools – and perhaps even in the public schools – and possibly in our own malls too. There are private schools in residential areas – and near homes of residences of people – exposing them to great risks and dangers!

Please forgive me because I am not an Engineer – nor an Architecture or HSE expert or advisor. All I know is writing job descriptions and human resources policies and procedures books. And columns and books – more as a hobby, interest and passion. I did not even attend book-writing or journalist courses – so even in that I just stumbled into writing – and cannot in the real sense of the world put claims to be an expert either!

But let us use some of the faculties given to us by The Lord – our common senses, brains, judgments, analysis and evaluations – our own consciences – of what is right or wrong – our intuitions and perceptions – and whatever else! Till a tragedy or happening will occur than reactively – after the event and in fire fighting – we are all then propelled into action and dynamism.

I personally think it is this fatalistic and do-not-care-a-damn – and do-not-want-to-hear-anything-from-anyone – and also this let-them-wait-and-suffer traits in all of us that is as the main cause of all the problems facing us now and with us – and will be far more with us – if we still continue in these ways and behaviours.

I also hold this my strong view that many of our problems today arise mainly from the ‘poor type and weak personality behaviours and characters people’ – that are in their positions now – not because they are good, competent and capable – but are there merely  more to ‘follow the line – not to rock the boat’ syndrome. They are there just to ensure to ‘keep the lid on’ – ‘just stays on’. They come with ‘killer instincts’ survival – like the sharks – that will attack anything coming near them – even their own – and even if not an adversary or enemy for that matter! Even that person who just wants to say Hello to him!

Lord Have the mercy on all of us – and Protect and Preserve us all – Amin Amen.

Take Care! 

By: – 

Majid Al Suleimany