BY Ahmad Y. Majdoubeh

We have so many assets in the country, but we seem to be unable to make the best of them.

One main reason, among others, is that we seem to be lost in the details or in marginal issues, at the expense of macro matters and the overall picture.

Let us count some of our major blessings, first.

We have great weather, among the best in the globe: Lots of sunshine, rain and snow in the winter, a beautiful spring season and a lot of cool evenings in the summer with almost zero humidity. In other words, our weather is an advantage in so many ways, and never a hindrance.

Additionally, even though we are a small country, its geographic and topographic variety clearly stands out: High hills, wide plateaus, and the lowest point on earth; forests bush and desert.

We have so much rich history: Nearly anybody who is anybody throughout human history has been to Jordan: Prophets, saints, emperors, military leaders, historians, etc. The major river we have, the Jordan, means so much to so many people around the world.

So many famous battles, so many empires, so many ancient ruins.

And so many world wonders: Petra, Wadi Rum, Jerash, the Dead Sea, to name a few.

As to natural sources, we have quite a few as well.

And we have great human resources.

Despite all of this, and much more, tourism falls extremely short of our expectations; agriculture is almost primitive; the industry, aside from a handful of products, is nearly non-existent; in commerce, we are largely consumers.

The economy is ailing, and our educational system is still traditional despite attempts at reform.

In sports our performance is average at best, and in the press and media, we are followers rather than leaders.

What is our problem?

Clearly, several problems, not one.

Among them are: Lack of overall vision, lack of planning and focus, lack of good management and lack sustainability.

Additionally, and this is the main point we wish to highlight here, we seem to be thinking at the micro level most of the time, without linking the micro to a macro context.

Nations which made it in the world, in older and in recent times, did so because they think at both the macro and micro at the same time, and because they act promptly and implement skilfully. And they have excellent follow-up and assessment schemes.

The problem in a nutshell for us is: We lack a vision for what we do and are, as a result, lost in the details.