We look out for ourselves, selfishly, and then, our needs are met, we say that this is the Pakistan we are praying for
KARACHI: This world is made up of problems, complications and people who complain. Difficulties entangle people in negative thoughts and they begin to lose hope. These negative thoughts can make or break us in various ways. They can either help us get somewhere or nowhere. One may say that sometimes a loss of hope or anger at a certain situation makes people fight and achieve great things. But this may not be true all the time.
Like most people in this country, the heat gets to my head in ways I cannot explain. Yet that same heat probably kills some other people. We live in constant fear in this country, but we do not relate to the fears of ‘others’, we only care about fears that are ‘ours’.
We look out for ourselves, selfishly, and then, our needs are met, we say that this is the Pakistan we are praying for.
At other times, we are constantly searching for hope and eventually convince ourselves that there is none left to find. This attitude is wrong. We should break free of negativity and work towards a prosperous future.
We ourselves should be taking charge. We ourselves should be the agents of change. Yes, we have social activists, leaders, and political advisers, but what about us? And by ‘us’, I really do mean ‘us’ as a community, as neighbours, brothers, sisters — as human beings. Why cannot we be faithful to our own culture while also being generous to those who are not a part of our culture, who suffer from pain because they are alienated?
We must embrace, we must help others assimilate. If a man is lost, we must do all we can to help him find his way. This is what humanity is all about; this is why humans live in communities. Sacrificing your own self for someone else is a grand feat. Yes, it sounds difficult and it truly is. Yet, there are people who do it everyday. As we try and build a more optimistic world, bring about more hope in people, we must coordinate and cooperate with those around us.
We, as individuals, are hell-bent upon engaging with the world on our own terms. In the process, we fail to engage with people — people like us, who make up the world.
Are we only entitled to developing and furthering our personal lives? Do we breathe only to cater to our little whims and selfishness? Or should we break free from our little shells and contribute to the world that we already share as a whole? Once we’ve helped the world, we’ve ultimately helped ourselves in the process. There is no longer any need for selfishness.
In the end, the sympathy we feel for people around us is simply not enough. We have to channel that sympathy into action that corrects people’s ordeals. We have to make something of our feelings. Sitting around and dwelling on the matter never gets us anywhere. If we rise, believe, and work towards conquering worldwide goals, eventually we may develop a newer, improved way of thinking. And once we have that, we have a newer, improved world right before our eyes.
Zarmeen Akhund
Published in The Express Tribune, June 25th, 2014.
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