Whilst becoming victims of ignorance and bigotry and wondering what will happen to us and our country, whose puppets will we become after this chaos, whose trap will we fall prey to this time and which wolf will come in disguise of lamb, will come to manipulate and play with our minds after this national tragedy, our, minds that have been shut with glaring lies, who will utter at least first word of truth, the truth that will be bitter like medicine when given to a child to cure his illness and they do not like it at all but eventually they start getting better and their illness is finally cured, who would be the one whose, that one word of truth will heal this bleeding nation, who will rescue our hearts filled with undying, unaltered love for this country of us, that has been burned, destroyed, used and abused. while thinking about all that is happening around us and those imaginary angels let’s leave it all there and talk about something else.
They say when there’s darkness, one should talk about light, when there’s despair talk about hope, and when there’s hellfire of extreme mindsets talk about peace and prosperity happening outside of the deep dark well of misery and issues where one resides. Like doctors do, they always smile, talk about positive things and give hope to even their most critical patients. They keep on learning and doing research to find solutions, remedies, treatments, and new ways to cure mankind. They would never keep repeating about the ailment; they would always talk about the ways to treat it.
This world that has been created for mankind to explore, is vast and full of solutions. And that’s what brilliant minds of developed nations have been doing, working on cures and solutions. They say, “Imagine your best possible self and start acting like that to succeed in life”. If as a nation, we want to flourish and bloom we have to start acting like one. Our whole focus, energies, and attention should be on that and start with what we have. The famous poet” Allama Iqbal said “sitaron se aage jahan aur bhi hain! (other worlds lie beyond these stars you see) the point is just to think beyond problems, and think huge and we as a nation can end up with at least something good.
While there’s political turmoil going on in our country that’s like a time bomb that can explode anytime we as a nation should divert our attention towards other positive activities the more we give attention to this the more it will become chronic. Let’s talk and do something about what’s happening around the world for instance. Cultural festivals, music, art, films, international events, conferences, delegations, etc. our government must start such activities in our country so that people should realise there are other things too except wasting their energies on political activities so they also might get a breath of fresh air and relief. Everyone wants peaceful, happy people around them and only promoting art and culture and healthy activities can end this mayhem. Government should give our people a sense of joy and happiness by starting cultural festivals, by promoting films, art also sports events, especially women should be encouraged in sports too, recently I visited the Canadian high commission’s function where they showed through a documentary that how they are promoting sports in women of Pakistan’s northern areas, the first thing that I thought was why our government is not doing this, and secondly, I realised that it’s something next level awareness that when most of the non-governmental organisations and government is been working on basic things like educating and health without succeeding, these people have crossed that line and took it to next level solutions that when a girl will be in sports, education, and health are automatically addressed they have gone ten steps ahead. That’s what developed nations do. International organisations are doing great work, especially in rural areas.
There’s another dilemma our younger generation is facing and that is everyone is trying to be a politician in their way. Maybe because only this profession is highlighted and glamorised so much through the media that people of our country think that there is no other profession worth choosing. Doctors, lawyers, social media activists, civil servants, students, even people who are doing nothing in their lives are displaying their political skills everywhere by posting useless pictures while doing basic things. That’s why there’s no growth, new ideas, research, or any kind of innovation or inventions happening in all these professions. No one is ready to think why our educational institutions are far behind the international standards and their degrees are not recognised except for a few because of their old worn out ways of teaching without any kind of teaching training, why doctors are charging so many fees and there’s no regulation about that, why students with MBA, Ph.D. degree are not getting jobs anywhere and the real reason is that all they get is only degree and no knowledge, why nothing is being done about skill development programs, why the fashion industry is not regulated, why our younger generation who are foreign degree holders prefer to become bloggers and social media stars instead of getting proper jobs upon their return, why no one does something about corruption? Corruption has been cultivated into the core of our people that wherever you go, any office, for your work they would expect money, from higher-ups to peon, and whoever doesn’t offer or get money they are considered stupid.
Nobody is ready to think about these issues which are real issues, unfortunately, this nation has become used to eating free food and having free entertainment in political jalsas where they are being brainwashed by telling them stories that nobody has ever heard, lies that even the devil would ask forgiveness if he hears them. Now is the time to divert the flow of this river of disappointments, hopelessness, misery, ignorance, and heartache. Heartache that I feel when I see teenage boys and girls wasting precious years of their lives on negative activities for political parties. They are being used mercilessly and they won’t know until the time when they end up uneducated, unemployed, and extremists.
I truly believe there’s light at the end of this dark hole that our nation is passing through, it’s the turning point because we have seen the worst that’s what I believe. Let’s break this vicious cycle and focus on good things only, let’s start building this nation because someone has to do it for our future generations. Now is the time to learn from the rest of the world to grow forward, even from our enemies, because a wise enemy is far better than a stupid friend.
The world is evolving and constantly changing. every moment there’s a new invention being introduced, new technologies are emerging, artificial intelligence is taking over in all sectors around the world, countries are working tirelessly on climate change, economy, poverty reduction peacebuilding, and old enemies are becoming friends for their national interests, all we can see is economic, cultural and social progress and prosperity, every week international events are being organised, they are signing treaties and agreements everywhere and while we are stuck in this gloomy tiny world of ours full of manipulation and deceit thinking and worrying about how to rescue the gold statues that we had built in our minds since years and they turned out to be dust, they have left us with nothing but dust on our defeated, disappointed faces now they won’t be taking us anywhere. Talking about international events see India’s audacity to host the G20 summit in illegally occupied Kashmir and violating the basic human rights of the Kashmiri people, and inviting world leaders to show everything is in order which is a complete lie, to get acceptance from them, although many friendly countries like China, Turkey, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia have refused to attend this fake show, why can’t Pakistan hold a single conference to highlight Kashmir issue by inviting world leaders in strategically suitable locations like Baluchistan or Azad Jammu Kashmir.
Time to wake up. I have been listening to the slogans of “real freedom “so we have to get real freedom from all this political chaos and focus on our personal as well as social growth and development and that will be the real freedom that our minds will get from these users to end this lifelong exploitation. I have recently tried to sum up the current situation of our country in a poem that I wrote in my book, “Petals in my diary”.
As a nation we have to cross these lines drawn for us to stop our mental growth we have to think ahead of time and rise by forward and futuristic thinking, learn from nations that have grown out of situations like ours, we will have to open our minds, hearts, and doors, and always keep looking for the possibilities, and opportunities as there is nothing unachievable.