Change

They say that consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative; I agree. Nothing dusts up the rust in your head and heart like change. Change the furniture placement of your room or the route to your work. A minor change like the way your wear your hair or a major change like moving to a new place. There is some positive energy that comes off when we change in a positive direction.

Man is not designed for monotony. Our personal energy and creativity starts to hit rock bottom if we are stagnant for too long; nothing revs up your life’s engine like experiencing something completely new. When we change one thing we are treading into unchartered territory. There is a “good scared” feeling that comes with change. When we are not in our usual “secure environment”, governed by our everyday routine we are more willing to take risks, try new things, shed our current avatars and trade it for a new one.

Our personal energy is a very important factor that most of us ignore. In older times, before internet and connectivity people used to believe that travelling enriched one’s life. Not just hoping on a plane and checking in a hotel/resort, they believed that the journey with all its discomforts and perils has a tendency to make our soul grow. When we connect with the natural elements around us, the “soul of the world”, as Paulo Coelho terms it, connects with us. Mountains, seas, the hmmm of a busy metropolis the whistling of the pine needles, all speak to us in their own way.

Each and everything in our life has its own energy and that energy balance plays a crucial role in our lives. The Chinese call this the “Feng Shui", according to them “Chi” is the positive energy that symbolizes life, health, prosperity and everything that is positive to us. Our life quality can diminish or be improved depending on the way chi flows in the environments we inhabit. Cluttered surroundings show a restless mind, broken furniture indicates weak relationships, simple everyday things that mirror our inner selves and reflect these energies back. Reorganizing your home in a new and organized manner will definitely bring in that much required creative energy.

Challenge yourself to try new things or visit new places; more importantly don’t put off starting your life to a time when you are more secure financially or have enough time off work. The time and place to start checking on that bucket list is now, every day.  Write that novel you always wanted to write or go bungee jump off a cliff; chances are that we will live a healthier and happier life if we intersperse if with new and different experiences on a regular basis. A predictable life may sound more secure, but the rush of adrenaline that change will inject in your life may make the difference between living and existing.

The Banality of Evil

It’s Friday, after the congressional Jumma prayers the streets of Kasur turn into an arena for cold blooded murder. A young man is killed by the merciless crowd over an accusation which proves to be false later. The image of two teenage boys being beaten to death in the middle of a crowd in Sialkot, is still etched in our hearts and minds. Karachi, Lahore, Gujranwala all over the country there are scenes of violence in the name of street justice. All the aggressors will vouch for the fact that they were merely doing the right thing, all their victims were accused thieves, or were involved in social crimes; most would say they were merely watching.

All this malevolence is carried out by ordinary people, who are not necessarily either violent or possess a tendency to evil. How can an ordinary man justify the killing of another person in cold blood? The answer lies in the fact that most of them actually don’t believe that they are taking active part in an evil process itself. The banality of evil is our tendency to justify and make righteous our acts of evil till they cease to be evil in our minds.

In Hitler’s concentration camps, hundreds were employed in making the huge killing machine work, were all of those people inherently evil? No. they were doing their jobs, they were not looking at the big picture and surely they were not killing anyone. There were janitors, soldiers and administrators who just did what they were told. By making an act normal, they actually acquitted themselves of the responsibility of the act itself.

Every person that contributes to the death or torture of a person is guilty by association; from the person who was silent at the scene of the crime to the government official on whose watch the crime took place. Ask the people who were standing there at the “Just” killings taking place all over the country and they will plead innocent. Not realizing that by simply becoming spectators or supporters to these events renders them just as guilty of not saving a life, as it qualifies the killers to a murder.

The need of the hour is a society with an active moral conscious, where any form of violence is entirely unacceptable. Where all life is sacred, whether it belongs to any group or ethnicity, religion or political party. Where at an individual level we ensure the respect of every person’s right to life and privacy. Where we take responsibility for every single action we perform and understand its butterfly effect. Unless we adopt this self-check; precious lives will continue to be lost in the name of so-called “street justice”.

We don't need no education

What should have been a trip to watch the much-hyped movie ”Bol”, turned out to be an afternoon where I learned much about the Pakistan’s “educated “middle class.

The queue at the local “middle-class cinema” was long in the sweltering July sun. Having spent 15 minutes standing in the line, I was miserable to see a Madam, dressed up in some designer lawn suit holding an expensive phone, walking in her labeled shoes with her labeled glasses right up to the ticket window and demanding that her request be urgently met. Looking at her one would assume her to be a woman of some reasonable education, with a decent family background. But see, she was not in Europe where she should be observing a queue; she was in good old fashioned Pakistan. Here if you are wearing heels high enough and can flaunt your accent at the poor teller he is bound to take notice.

Inside the situation was worst. The Movie contained some very sensitive dialogues and scenes; to all of which our home crowd (most of it) happily cheered. Apparently everything from infanticide to sexual harassment was funny to our educated middle class boys and girls. It would not have been a shocker if I were watching this movie in some other cinema catering to a different tier audience. I can understand if the rickshaw-wala or the local thelay- wala cannot grasp or respond to the call of such serious topics but such a reaction from the so called educated and “urbanely” dressed up youth is a very serious question on our ethical education.

Apparently all education is supposed to do for us is get us jobs. We have stopped placing any importance to the ethical education of our young. Whose duty is it to teach the young about respect, about ethical norms and civic sense? Are these doomed to live in text books, for we feel that these lofty qualities certainly do not require to be exhibited in everyday life? Do we feel that observing these mannerisms make us look quaint and weak?  Is laughing on the harassment of a weaker and different gender part of our cultural mindset? Kids from elite schools throwing rubbish out of there elite cars and  eve teasing, simply goes to show that we may be producing kids who can get A’s but  something very vital in their overall grooming has gone missing.

Where we have kept up with the latest fashion trends abroad, we certainly forgot to adopt their manners in most cases. We forgot to teach our boys to stand up for the weak instead of laugh at them, we forgot to educate our girls that they have rights and it is not their fault that they are teased when they step out of the house. It is not just our ethics but our general civic sense which is in tatters. We generally never say hello, we are hardly ever polite to the person standing next to us and we never ever smile. We do not offer seats to the elderly or women and we simply have to honk at all times. I can imagine what Ramadan will be like this year. Thirsty and short tempered our holy fasters will be at each other’s throat as the time of iftar draws near. The number of accidents on the road will rise alongside the number of brawls, all in the spirit of the Holy month.

Pakistan is facing a political dilemma because we face a moral and ethical one. Educate our youth in all aspects of life, upholding the real values that govern our life; it is only then that Pakistan may emerge from this quagmire.