The balance we dream of

I remember being once asked in a class: “What is the one thing that you wish to be, that was also supernatural in nature?” I thought about it for a long time and then decided that it would be interesting to be a ‘balance’ of sorts. This is what I wished to be — a balance. The idea of balance in its entirety: in action, thought and emotion. Because, if we look around, we are surrounded everywhere by pain and suffering, which have given birth to further injustices. The seemingly impeccable edifices in which we take so much pride are mostly built upon the bones of our forefathers who were victims of an imperial colony. We, as a country, have made little progress to free ourselves of the chains that bind us to our old identity, i.e., a colony of a ‘superior’ race.

But even as we transcend and look beyond our own grief and pains, it is ironic to see the world plagued with ‘famine’ on one hand and ‘obesity’ on the other. If there was balance in the world, perhaps these two terms would not have existed. It is because of our acutely imperfect nature that the world is gripped with opportunists who make profit of any situation they come across.

Ever since the end of the Cold War, all of us saw capitalism coming out as the victor against communism. But what does capitalism dictate? To utilise opportunities and give them a superior priority, even above humanity at times. Capitalism blossoms the idea of hedonism which ultimately leads to self-centeredness. And that leads to the idea of ‘selective humanity’. It is not even a dystopia, it is a real, prevailing state of affairs; we need only gaze towards Africa for evidence, or look at our own country more critically to see traces of the fall of humanity. That said, I am not censuring capitalism. Capitalism is merely an idea. It is we, the people, who give life to it.

But where is the balance? Indeed, there may be no such thing as ‘balance’ in this world. We may come close to it, but never experience it in its entirety in this imperfect life. The least we can do is struggle and try to imitate the idea of a balance in order to lessen the burdens and pains of our fellow human beings.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2016.