How far does the Arab look back for his own origins?

Americans recognize that there is a past on which the present rests. But they have not developed their sense of the depth of time to the extent that this has been done in the Middle East and South Asia. The Arab looks back two to six thousand years for his own origins. History is used as the basis for almost any modern action. The chances are that an Arab won’t start a talk or a speech or analyze a problem without first developing the historical aspects of his subject. The Americans assumes that time has depth, but he takes this for granted.
     The Americans never questions the fact that time should be planned and future events fitted into a schedule. He thinks that people should look forward to the future and not dwell too much on the past. His future is not very far ahead of him. Results must be obtained in the foreseeable future—one or two years or, at the most, five or ten. Promises to meet deadlines and appointments are taken very seriously. There are real penalties for being late and for not keeping commitments in time. The American thinks it is natural to quantify time. To fail to do so is unthinkable. The American specifies how much time is required to do everything. "I’ll be there in ten minutes." "It will take six months to finish that job." "I was in the Army for four and a half years."