deSoria deSign

I'm not sure how to go about describing tonight's interview.
It was awkward to say the least.
A friend of mine accompanying me said that it made her muscles tense. For whatever reason, Sa'ad Isma'el was not happy to be interviewed. He was very willing, but at the same time he seemed perturbed about it.
As a young boy, he dove for pearls with his father. He showed me the rock that he would attach with a rope to his foot to sink to the bottom. He also showed me the plug that he used for his nose when diving.
He put a basket net around his neck that he used to put the oysters and clams in.
For his family, he would bring back starfish shaped like camels and his mother would put little saddles on them.
He is the first genuine pearl diver (no scuba gear) that I have met. He was young when he dove, as pearling hasn't been practiced out of necessity for 50 or 60 years in the gulf.
He said he knew the songs of the pearl divers. He also said that he could sing them, as well as translate them.
But he would not.
He kept saying, "why does it matter," "who will care..."
I promptly said that I would care.
He responded with a long pause, during which I waited with my camera ready.
No songs for me.
not today anyways.
I asked him if he new any stories, legends or folklore told from pearl divers.
he said that he did, and then proceeded to tell me a TOTALLY unrelated story about his beard, a strand of hair, a box, and loaning someone some money.
I was perplexed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6w9NwH0bSk
But I think that he was trying to convey something about trust, and that a man's word used to be worth something. -Today, in Qatar, trust and honor are not what they use to be.
I believe pearl diving represents something more than just a novel memory to Sa'ad Isma'el.
Oil and gas are fine and dandy, and everyone is fat and happy...but in the process of rapid development and money trees popping up everywhere, certain things were lost, and maybe there are some people that miss those things.
On November 15, 2005 the Doha Debates proposed this question to Qataris and Arabs from all over the Islamic world: was the oil a blessing or a curse?
the result: "This house believes that oil has been more of a curse than a blessing for the Middle East"
The motion was passed 63% - 38%.