Change is bound to happen

In the three-volume book A Scots Quair written by Lewis Grassic Gibbon, four thousand-year-old stones are depicted standing against clouds. A scene shows the main character, Chris Guthrie, thinking about the nature of time and change: that there was a time when clouds were worshipped as gods; but now they are just clouds that come and go and disappear, and their story ends after they dissolve into the air. Nothing remains, but nature and the eternal hills.

Gibbon himself knew this as a socialist philosopher that even the eternal hills would not remain, because nothing is permanent. Mountains, islands, seas, plants and solar systems come into being, undergo changes and finally disappear. Changes in nature are measured in millennial, while human society grows at an alarming rate. Yet we hear people say that this is the way things have always been and it is futile to try to change things. This is because our lifespan is short. We often have trouble seeing the big picture. We think that poverty, extremism, feudalism and regressiveness are going to last forever, because it has been around for hundreds of years. If someone had told this to the cave dwellers that one day we would live in huge cities; and airplanes, cars, ships, telephones, refrigerators and air-conditioners will be there, they would make fun of those saying such things.

When the slaves led by Spartacus revolted in Rome 2,000 years ago, some sane people told him that he was just wasting his time, and that he should be conscious that slavery had always existed. Keeping and owning slaves is in human nature; and you cannot change human nature.

In all periods of human history, there have been people who live in the past. Wealthy and powerful people, who fear change and resist progress, lose their temper with faced with unfavourable situations. Another type of people are those who welcome change. They live in the future instead of living in the past or present. They refuse to bow before the altar of tradition. They challenge the status quo and succeed in breaking the rules.

Nicolaus Copernicus was an astronomer who proposed a heliocentric system that the planets orbit around the sun; that Earth is a planet which, besides orbiting the sun annually, also turns once a day on its own axis. Every church in Europe condemned it because Copernicus dared challenge the fact that the Earth is the centre of the universe and everything revolves around it.

Napoleon rewrote the rules of war and conflict. Similarly, Picasso in art, Darwin in biology and Newton compiled the principles of physics in a new form. Shakespeare formulated the new principles of literature as well as ethics. German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer said that all truth passes through three stages: First it is ridiculed, then it is strongly opposed, and finally it is accepted by itself.

Let’s recall the childhood incident of the great American ex-President, Abraham Lincoln. One day, a friend of his father came to his home. Lincoln was 6 at that time and was playing in the yard of the house. The friend asked him, “Son what will you be when you grow up.” Lincoln replied, “I will be the President of the United States of America.” He laughed a lot hearing Lincoln’s answer and said the job required a lot of hard work and struggle. Lincoln answered, “Uncle, half the work is done and half the work remains to be done.” When his father’s friend asked him elaborate, Lincoln said that he had agreed to become the President so half the work is done; the other half was to satisfy the American people.

Those who say that change cannot happen in Pakistan are actually living in the world of fools. There has been change everywhere in the world. Today’s world is a changed world. Other countries of the world had more defects and evils than us; but their people agreed to change their situation, and then they changed their world. When you think of change, half of the change has already come. The rest of the half comes automatically through hard work and struggle. The main thing is to convince yourself, and the people of Pakistan have convinced themselves now. Therefore, change is bound to happen in Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 2^nd, 2023.

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