Thoughts

24-11-2008
Thoughts (by Ahmad Babar):

As I sit here, in seclusion with nothing but walking bodies around me, I wonder where life has brought us all. There used to be a time when every breeze brought laughter with it, when every rattling leaf used to inspire smiles.

People walk by me pretending as if I don’t exist, in fact, pretending as if no one else exists until or unless a remote possibility of their being useful churns up out of thin air. Their handshakes are the best give-ins, they are cold, lose and some even reluctant. As the hands embrace each other, the eyes look elsewhere as if they are trying to hide the sea of secrets and doubts that hide deep within.

The most “interesting” part is that everyone seems to be afraid of every other person they see. Whether the fear is that the person will blow themselves up along with everyone around them, the person will turn out to be someone we hadn’t expected them to be or for that matter, the person will take whatever they have. Hence, it won’t be wrong to conclude that we all think of each other as monsters and in essence, we are a society of Zombies.

As I try to listen to silence, all I feel is restlessness. No one seems to be happy any more. The funny part is that half of the problems people are stressed about aren’t even their own, they are what they hear on the media. Come to think of it, if people stop worrying about every random thing they hear/read in the media and channelize their efforts on solving their own issues, the world would be a much better place. It is said, “Charity begins at home” and this very well also applies to problem solving. Start by solving your own issues first and once you know how to solve problems, then go out to save the world!

Just last night I was talking with a foreigner friend whom I invited to visit Pakistan and the reply I got was, “maybe one day when the war is over in Pakistan, I will come visit. I don’t want to get killed or kidnapped”. Hearing this hurt me deep, deep inside. Is this really how we want to project ourselves to the rest of the world? Why it is that it’s either this war-zone image or the completely care-free image of “enlightened moderation” that we are always portraying to the rest of the world? Where has the “PAKISTANI” image gone? What happened to out centuries old, extremely rich and beautiful culture? What in the world happened to our values? Why have we turned into a society that neither knows what it’s own cultural and moral values are nor does it remember what it’s most practiced religion preaches?

Are these really questions without answers to them? No, I don’t believe so. I am not saying that I am the perfect Pakistani but I do take pride in the fact that I try to be. Why can’t we all stop complaining and start putting in a little more effort to make things better a step at a time? Wouldn’t it be great if all the Zombies around us turned into beautiful human beings they once were? I hope they do.

Come let’s pray together for the betterment of our lives, our society, our people, our county and this world as a whole. Let’s hope for a time when peace and serenity would prevail above all.

Allah, Grant us the Serenity to Accept the things we Cannot change, the Courage to change the things we Can and the Wisdom to know the Difference.