Interview with Tarek Saab, October 2009

Tarek Saab took a moment out of his busy schedule for an October interview in honor of Catholic Speaker Month. According to his online bio at Saabstories.com, Saab is president of T. Saab Media and the co-founder and president of GoldandSilverNow, a gold and silver bullion company. In 2005, he co-founded Lionheart Apparel, a Christian clothing line, and he remains a minority owner in the business.  He was a contestant during season five of the Donald Trump reality television show, The Apprentice, and he wrote the book Gut Check: Confronting Love, Work, and Manhood, which is in its fifth print cycle.

Claudia: Out of your varied experiences on The Apprentice, in business, and as an author, might you say anything about how you have relied on your faith as a Catholic?

Tarek: It is really difficult to pinpoint. It’s like asking when I have relied on breathing. Faith is to the soul what breathing is to the body; it’s as though we only become aware of its necessity when it is taken away or when facing tremendous hardship. It’s not like we rely on it less at all other times. That said, my faith was a great consolation to me on The Apprentice. The pressure, the uncommon relationships, the artificial circumstances, the overnight fame – they all were tremendously challenging to my soul.  Praying the rosary was a great comfort.

CB: Your interests range from business, to science, to writing, to… you name it!  How do you keep it all in perspective so that you can still be successful?

TS: Well, the opening line in my book reads: “Success in life and business begins by focusing on death.”  That statement really sums it up. I keep my interests in perspective by keeping them secondary.  Insofar as my vocation requires that I provide materially for my family, business is important and profitable (spiritually), but still a distant second to the preeminent vocation, which is making it to heaven.  As the gospel says, “Unless the Lord bless the house, they labor in vain who build it.”  As for writing, I write only when I have fulfilled my other duties. As a creative outlet, I love writing and I hope it serves a valuable purpose. As a career, it is unreliable, and so it’s only a hobby to me as a family man.

CB: One of your projects was writing Gut Check. What was your inspiration for the book and what are the main messages that you would want a reader to capture from the book?

TS: Gut Check was a response to the fan mail I received from the television show (The Apprentice). Many young men and women requested my thoughts on success, and their questions were largely similar. I felt like there was a transparent need for a book written for my generation. Additionally, there was something therapeutic, you might say, about the opportunity to expose the “real me” to the public, and not the pre-packaged, manufactured version that viewers watched on television. Of course, my thoughts on success are unique, as evident from the first sentence of the book, and as a thesis I think success is quite easily determined between those who make it to heaven and those who do not. As a sub-theme, I think it is important that people realize it is not how we begin but how we end that matters, and in the mind of God perseverance is a necessity. “He that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved.” We are members of the Church Militant, and the fight does not end until we die.

CB: What do you have to say about education?  Has the time you put into your education been worth the effort?

TS: Education is very important, obviously, and if we all devoted as much time to educating ourselves as we do to entertainment, especially upon leaving school, I am certain we would live in a vastly different society.  But it is important to remember that one can be a saint without being educated. (Some might argue even more easily, nowadays.)  We are not all called to be scholars. Given the nature of our times, it is critically important that every Catholic know his faith well, at the very least, as the faith is attacked constantly by innumerable enemies. That is the minimum.  I regret not having been more dedicated to my studies when given the opportunity, and sadly, my time in college was largely wasted on the college life. There is a stark difference between pure education and our modern educational system, both Catholic and secular.  The system centers its activity on test taking, grades, certificates, and titles. The purpose is resume building, and the motives are honors and degrees – not necessarily an education.  A true liberal arts education, let alone a staunchly Catholic one, is rare to be found even among the most conservative Catholic colleges, and entry is afforded to many untalented students.  If only the best athletes can play collegiate sports, shouldn’t it be that only the brightest minds attend university?  If the standards were higher across the system, most would receive the modern college education at the high school level.  Only now am I finally learning what I should have many years ago, and yes, the effort has been highly rewarding.

CB: When you speak publicly, on what do you focus?  What is your “takeaway” message?

TS: Beyond the core themes of the book, I ask audiences to consider the term “addiction” in all its modern forms.  It is terribly sad to see so many Catholics addicted to television shows, Facebook and other Internet browsing, sports, fantasy sports, music, movies, video games, etc.  The list is endless.  We are a country of addicts.  The average American watches four hours of television every night.  My greatest addictions historically have been sports and music – especially sports, which I considered to be a “harmless” past time until I awoke to the realization that I spent 20 hours every week consumed by sports.  This was in contrast to my prayer life, to which I devoted perhaps five minutes per night.  We spend so much time concerned with entertaining ourselves and so little time developing our faith.  It is such a waste.  If there exists something in our life, beyond the essentials, that we “simply cannot live without,” it is an addiction.  Otherwise, we could live without it.

CB: Finally, I read on your website that you don’t have a television.  (I haven’t had one for 15 years, either.)  How do you and your family make your own fun?

TS: We live very simple lives. Enjoyment to us consists of travel, reading, cooking, playing games, spending time with family, etc. My wife is an artist, and we are both learning Spanish. We are never bored!

Again, many thanks to Tarek for taking the time for this interview! (Reprinting is available, please use the contact section above to reach Claudia Broman.)