Frustration and pessimism
Though he was the son of a pastor and a pastor himself, and a doctorate in philosophy too, but yet he was a common man, a BLACK MAN. It was only with the faith that he had in himself and his cause, and the courage and perseverance which he showed, that he became the icon of liberalism and civil rights.
He based his movement on ideals of Christianity and the operational techniques of Gandhi. And although, he was jailed several times, his home was bombed and he was physically assaulted on many occasions. Yet, his protest remained peaceful and non-violent.
America, in those days, was faced with more racial and cultural differences than Pakistan in these times. As Luther said, there was discrimination and segregation between the blacks and the whites, the Catholics and the Protestants, the Jews and the Gentiles, the Natives and the Immigrants. Thus, USA was in the deep quagmire of ethnic tensions. But, her citizens did not pick up weapons, did not burn markets or kill the bystanders. Their leaders did not provoke the masses to turn against each other.
However We, the Orientals still think that we are the superior race. We are proud of our religion, faith, social system and our family traditions. And we feel pity for the West. We talk about their selfishness and materialism, with reference to their old parents, their illegitimate kids and their single moms. But while listing their weaknesses, we forget ours.
We forget that we kill our brothers in Islam for being too 'tolerant'; we destroy a person's property just because of our bursting fury for unrelated reasons, we can't withstand 'others' living and prospering in our cities, we kill people on ideological, lingual and ethnic basis, and we don't just kill, we massacre them.
When it comes to patriotism, national solidarity, human rights and personal restraint, I must say that the West seems a lot better than us.
So why can't we stand together? Why are we silent and afraid? Why do we fear the Americans, the Taliban, and the state police? Why do we fear our own army as much as we fear militants? Because we don't fear THE ONE who is to be feared. And, that is why we are oppressed and weak.
When we look towards our masquerading leaders, they claim to be our saviours, but they are not! And quite interestingly, when we are asked to choose a leader, we always make the same wrong choices. And we justify ourselves by saying that we didn't have any other choice.
Albert Einstein said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different outcomes" and if that's true then we are all insane.
But let us not despair. For, out of chaos, comes order, and out of oppression, appears resistance. When the nation grieves but the hope remains, only then does God send a Messiah. He sent all of his prophets in difficult times. And then, when poverty rose, Marx was born. When a civilization was subdued, Iqbal was sent and when oppression became unbearable, MLK Jr. emerged. They might not be prophets but they were definitely better than millions.
Sooner or later we will find someone like them. And then it will be our courage, perseverance and faith that will bring us glory.
So let us all have a dream that one day our nation will also rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed.
It is said that the change begins at hearts and it creates a butterfly effect which goes on to alter the world map. And fortunately, it has begun for many of us. It won't take long to make that change obvious.
My motivation to write this article was a friend's facebook status. His frustration and pessimism was quite evident, just like that, which is building inside the rest of us. And, it's a good sign because it means we are sensing the pain. This is the first step to progress.
However, I will request the youth to stay patient and have faith in themselves. And if we keep advancing, then inshAllah one day, we'll get to the Promised Land.
Long Live Pakistan painful crying www.pakpositive.com
Two brothers were beaten to death at the roads of Sialkot which surely was a rare occurrence in the society of Pakistan. The act surely was inhumane & who is guilty must die miserably at the hands of justice. But the 'darling' media that is categorizing Pakistan as ferocious and animalistic probably does not have a good insight of what goes on in its own society. Indian atrocious rule of Occupied Kashmir and then their stance to make it a part of India, daily raping of women & killing or more appropriately said, mass murder of men, sexual harassment of children and all such are loud and clear instances of India's 'public display of affection' for humanity. On the basis of cast-hatred, on June 17, 2010, a Dalit girl, 22 years of age had been stripped naked by a mob of 23 - 30 women and a few men, was beaten up by bamboos and was kicked really hard and bad. This incident took place in South Mumbai. The girl said and I quote ' They entered my house, beat me with bamboo sticks, kicked me, tore my gown, stripped me and dragged me to the street, I pleaded but they hurled abuses at me. The upper class women in our neighbourhood would always abuse us. They would not let us draw water from the pump and would wait for an opportunity to attack our family'. So, did anybody ever know about it?! Did the Indian judiciary take any serious step against this heinous crime?! or did the law enforcing agencies do any bit of a thing about the major crimes we google search with India's name and get one million and ten results?! And the point of concern is that, did the western media speak of all these instances or say a word about what is happening in the Occupied Kashmir every passing day?! No, they won't. Because this time the ultimate target is Pakistan, the ultimate target is the Islamic Bomb.
We as Pakistanis need to join our hands in ommunicating it to the world that at least in the South Asian region, we are a better & more civilized nation than any other. We live in a country where crimes like the Sialkot Killing are duly handled at SC level, where people donate so graciously in times of natural calamities that magazines mark us as The Bravest Nation, where women are so empowered that every organization you visit today has a 1:1 gender ratio and where people are so staunch in their beliefs that despite of all the prevailing International media propaganda against Pakistanis, they do not get influenced negatively and stay as constructive for their beloved motherland as possible. We are ready to give every single drop of our blood to safeguard your name, fame and domain. Our blood will fertile the free land you have extended to us for living. That is our promise. Live Long Pakistan!!