All Hashemite Proud

Believe in God

Love your country

All Hashemite Proud

--sign on a school outside of Wadi Musa in Jordan

We just returned from a week's vacation in Jordan.  It was a real adventure.  I must say that when I was in high school doing a short assignment on Jordan's role in the Middle East peace process, I never thought that one day I would be actually traveling in that country and meeting Jordanians face to face.  As a Middle Eastern country, its fortunes fluctuate with the perceived security of the region and the "Middle East" is never very high on an American's tourist roster.
This year, tourism to Jordan is especially suffering in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen.  As Jordanians are quick to point out, Jordan is a completely different country, ruled by a benevolent king, a written Constitution, and British parliamentary system with free elections.  Even the US State Department thinks that Jordan is the most stable country in the region--ranking above Israel in terms of security and travel warnings.  Jordanians are such a tight-knit society that everyone knows everyone's business and they are all fairly happy under King Abdullah II whom they believe has the best interest of the people at heart in all of his decisions.  As long as the king loves his people and will act for them there is no need to overthrow the government.
Jordanians are very proud of their country.  Countless people on the street asked us where we were from and when we said "US" replied with a hearty "Welcome to Jordan!  You are most welcome here."  Sometimes they wanted to sell us things but other times they were just friendly strangers passing the time.  Their unequivocal love of country was almost disarming in its sincerity.  On the one hand, it was like the whole country was working for the tourist bureau, and on the other it was completely guileless. When I return to the states and meet a foreign tourist I will tell them that they are "most welcome to the US" and see how they react.
More people should travel to Jordan.  It is a beautiful country and the people are some of the nicest that I have met in the world.  The king is taking steps to modernize the country, such as building tourist promenades, improving taxi cabs and enforcing education up to the age of 16, even for the Bedouins.  He has brought the internet and satellite TV to Wadi Rum and with tourism grows the connection between East and West.  The people are so happy that there is no fertile soil of discontent that feeds the revolutions sweeping the rest of the Arab world.  The future looks bright for Jordan.

A story: On our first day in Jordan we did a dive to the wreck of the Cedar Pride which is a purpose-sunk freighter (sunk by the king) just off of a popular beach.  As I was exiting the water, a little girl about 8 years old ran up to my dive master and said something to him.  He turned to me and said, "she wants to take a picture with you."  I turned around (in full dive gear) and posed with her while her mother in a long Muslim dress with headscarf stood in the surf and took the picture.  The little girl ran away beaming.  If a little girl in Jordan can dream of SCUBA diving, the people have a future.