My View
Okay... I'll throw in my 5-cents worth....
It all depends on what you want, what you are used to, and how you view your time on this planet.
I was born in an African country... only to be told 23 years later that I couldn't hold 2 passports. So I got rid of the inconvenient (read - expensive visas) one, and kept the other... from a neighbouring country... only to have "Alien" stamped in the passport I carried hence forth.
Nice.
So now I had no home country. So I went to live in a neighbouring country.... hoping that sanity might prevail, and that I might be able to sustain my family there. Then that country followed the policies of the one I had just left... of taking land, farms, businesses and properties from certain "un-ethnic" people.
So now I am homeless / stateless / a refugee.....
When EK offered me a job, I was ecstatic! I took the offer, and was on course in the blink of an eye. Since I have been here with my family (with 3 young kids), .... I have not been threatened at gun-point, our car has not been stolen (even when left running for air-con purposes outside the shops in summer), we have not been hijacked, robbed, nor even lost a single towel using a rent-a maid service. My kids can ride their bikes on the streets, and I feel safe here.
That being said... old habits die hard..., we're never not aware of where our kids are, nor do we allow them to stray too far without us, we ensure they are at their friends houses by a call within a few minutes of them leaving... all the usual things a responsible parent would do? We are learning that although it may appear to be the land of Milk and Honey.... there are still things out there which need watching out for. Just be a responsible person / parent / human being?
If you come here... remember this.... the stories you hear (or read) will be from people who are here, remembering only the best from their past life, comparing it to the worst from this new life. Everyone forgets the ugliness of their last-life when they move on.... and they are all SO quick to criticise this new place.
Dubai has a lot to offer anyone with an open mind, and a forgetful heart.
Don't compare... treat everything as an adventure... as you should your life!
Good luck!