Why should a girl have to choose?

Tuesday morning, we had our final visit.  It was so sad to realize that this was the end of our adventures.  We went to the Help Center for children with intellectual disabilities.  They are a comprehensive program promoting well being for all different aspects of children with intellectual disabilities and often times additional physical complications.  We were introduced to their programs and even had an opportunity to interact with some of their kids.  We were very impressed by the focus on arts integrated lessons, particularly the student art.  We enjoyed shopping in their little art shop.  I wish I had been able to bring something back, but my suitcase just could not handle anything more.
After that we had the rest of the day to do our last minute preparations to get ready to go back.  We were able to shop for those things we just hadn't been able to find yet.  The thing I was looking for was a jalabiya.  That's the traditional dress for Saudi women.  They are often beautifully embellished, vibrant colors, and always astonishingly beautiful.  I was looking for just the right one for me to bring back.  Well, we went to two different stores and I found one in each store that I just adored.  One was a more formal and more traditional Saudi one, while the other was simpler and would blend in better in the States.  I simply could not make up my mind.  I was really frustrated at the idea of only getting one, so after bargaining down the price on one of them, it became possible for me to afford both.  Why should a girl have to choose?  I thought this was a perfectly acceptable alternative.
The same question and same alternative seems to be facing Saudi Arabia.  Why should they be forced to choose?  In so many ways the country is a modern global force and yet in so many others it is a traditional and developing country.  There is a constant fear of embracing too much of the West or modernity and forgetting the past and its traditions, yet also the fear that being trapped in the past will mean Saudi Arabia being left behind by the rest of the world.  Finding that balance, that bargain of sorts, between the two is the story of Saudi Arabia.

I'm home now and processing my trip.  More reflections and maybe even the story of getting home are still to come...