Say No to Pessimism............by Tariq Bhatti

Say no to Pessimism

By Tariq Bhatti

It was a usual tea break at office cafe. Conversation –as most of the times it happens – started from jokes and transformed into a sober introspective session. Contrary to the norm, the session did not end with dismissive and gloomy conclusions thouhgh.

The discussion revolved largely around one common aspiration. That if we as people of the society and state of Pakistan could grow a bit faster and start owning ourselves and surroundings, we would meet the challenge of making our society prosperous and dynamic. The case of China, Malaysia and various first world countries were cited as reference points.

Comparisons –whether among individual lots or national destinies – either inspire or compound the exisiting sense of bleakness. It is a proverbial double edged sword. It can either make one dejected or offer foot prints leading towards destination. In the absence of clear sense of direction, comparisons with success stories lead nobody nowhere.

In Pakistan the dominant trend is of bashing all and sundry. This applies to all walks of life. We ignore shine whereever it exists and tend to find clouds even under the bright sun. This syndrome goes deeper and results in general apathy towards life as a whole.

There are vivid manifestations of this attitude in most of our social maneouverings. We have obsession for mega social, political and ideological narratives. As a result small things remain ignored. We worry more about renaissance of Ummah and pay lesser or no attention to educate ourselves on basics of civic life.

We attribute our failures to imperial conspiracies and fail to envision sustainable planning and exceution mechanism for ourselves. We imbibe guilt for harmless instinctual expressions. We mourn for the sins not even committed. We remain engrossed in the glory of the past. We deffer all possibilities of reforming our today because this world is a stop over. Real life with lasating bliss is believed to be waiting for us beyond ‘suguar candy mountains’.

As logical corollary to this thinking pattern, we are denied the entery to the comity of self reliant and respectable nations despite sixty plus years unedr our belt.

As they say it is never too late. I think it is high time that we sit and take a retrospective stock of our national doings and undoings. We can and we must prepare a list of things we could do but did not. Things which were very difficult but we manged to accomplish. Things we could have avoided but failed to. Things where order of priority should have been opposite to what we followed.

Once this list is prepared, shared, understood and adopted. A new list containing clear order of priorities for the future should be chalked out instantly. This order must envision a roadmap capable of channelising the potential from all geographic stretches and from all social and economic stratifications.

The best sons and daughters of the country should be assigned the task to draft the above mentioned order. Notwithstanding the cmplex public policy issues the list must also pay heed to the small things. It must provide a do-able, fair and just mechanism for eradicating the divisive trends and building upon the cementing factors.

The basic issues like making optimum use of our virgin lands and ensuring enough safe water for our children. Conceiving and implimenting uniform education policy for all the children of rich and poor alike. Fool proof, equitable and transparant distribution of resources among all federating units. Complete and ruthless overhauling of public sector as a whole- with absolutely no room for colonial hangover.

Also inculcate that we must not make our pavements untidy. We will not throw garbage at public places. We will not make use of honking horns while passing through residential areas. Ban the polythene, uproot the religious fanaticism –if former kills land, latter destroys soul; both are big impenidements in the way of healthy society.

I strongly feel that better placed and priviliged amongst us must come out of the paracytic mode now. They have sucked enough blood and they need to add little purities to their filthy rich veins and artries. Good that their kids move to the richest capitals in the world. True that national boundaries have little or no meanings for them. We appreciate that the best carreers awit their offsprings.

Remember: If this country has become unlivable for the children of the elite; it is because of their inadequacies. Wretcheds of the earth have nothing to be blamed for. Do not leave them in the abyss. The darkness may enshroud your hearts. Let us belive that we are blessed with resource rich home land. We only need to own it.