Sunday, December 6, 2009

Barbarism or Freedom ?

Were you out of your mind talking on the mobile phone in the middle of Tariq Road....?

I asked my friend who was telling me about how easily and frankly two male snatched her mobile in the middle of Tariq Road with so many people around them and nobody had even raised a voice.

"It sounded like they are free to do such snatching" . She told me sarcastically.

hmmm.....I rather would say barbarically free to snatch.

Since we are a free country (Alhamdullilah) does this gives us the right to act barbarously towards others ?

What does freedom means : Freedom in is the right or ability to act according to ones will without being held up by the power of others.

And what about Barbarism : An idea, act or expression that in form or use offends against contemporary standards of good taste or acceptability.

It is usual to see people not following the traffic signals in Karachi. They often not follow the Que system in banks. They normally cheat you with the car parking in front of busy shopping plaza.

And what if someday I make a stand and ask them why not follow the rules and they would turn smiling and might say " Cause its a free country".

hmmm.....yes !

We are free to do any thing in this world its our legal right since our birth and at the same time we have freedom of making choices.

As Jean-Jacques Rousseau said, "Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains". Why ?

Because of his choices and he chooses not be offended to anyone or to be a snatcher. If he chooses to be the first one he has to follow the rules of his states and mostly his heart's.

Its our heart which makes a CODE OF CONDUCT for our practical (which means when we are old enough to reason) lives. We make set of rules and one by one implement them on our lives and sometimes these rules are the inspiration from our ideals or our contemporary era. These rules do not directly collide with the state rules but they both usually are parallel.

I know due to the abrupt glamorised media our children and young generation has a list of luxury to attain while they don't have money or jobs.

But still we have our ideals and they had a fulfilled life even without these luxuries.

And even we don't have anyone in our mind we still have our heart to guide us towards wrong and right. We have our religion to help us becoming a better person.

After all these media and choices in our hands we are still barbarous in nature and making other peoples live miserable.

hmmm....

8 comments:

  1. Soon after the birth of Pakistan, a writer made it his mission to teach respect of law. His name was Ibne Safi. The masses hailed him - rich, poor, literate and illiterate together because those who could not read would get his books read out to them by others. Academics, literary critics and school teachers who themselves couldnt resist reading him, told the younger generation not to read him and some teachers even punished school children for reading JASOOSI NOVEL.

    Ibne Safi died in 1980. It is now almost 30 years that there has been no one to preach the respect of law in an amiable manner. To me, it is not a coincidence that crime rate has increased. There are other factors too, but how can we ignore the fact that the educated class of Pakistani society decided, decades ago, not to acknowledge that preaching the respect for law can be a genuine aim of literature. So, we are facing the consequences of the choice which we made :).

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  2. Since when did Pakistan become a free country!? The poet Obaidullah Aleem once said "Admi jitna jitna azad hota jata hei utna utna paband hota jaat hei."

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  3. I love hearing about Ibne Safi and the impact he has made...maybe there will be a revival of his work?

    Meantime, on another list, a very brave young man tells of how he takes would be gang members and works with them with clean-up, helping them feel seen & heard etc. so that they feel like valuable contributors...I do this with some young children...it's difficult to sustain yet there are rewarding changes and growth in respect over time... Of course, best done in context of more than one or two, given potential danger, especially when you are a young woman...

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  4. Thinking and Rehan,

    A long and a short comment left for you each in previous post.

    Thank You for your work and your communications.

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  5. Shafique Sahib....so honored to have your comment.

    Yes I think it was the literature which helped us developed the skill to compare the good and bad and to choose the right thing.

    Our society is now void of that literature and there is no one who is leading the way to re-introduce it.

    If you ever had a chance to visit any Computer Software shop....they are full of crap video games mostly labled as TERRORISTS and GUN....more or less. And that is what our young generation is upto....hmmm

    However, we still have hope...like you (Khurram Ali Shafique Sahib) and so many others who has devoted their life to Pakistan and continously making efforts to re-develop the image of our good litreature.

    I hope for your victory.

    Thanks alot.

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  6. Qayoom Sahib....thanks for your comment !

    We struggle for a free country but I think we ended up with the same EUROPE DOMINATED nation or notion.

    But still hope is our best campanion and I hope that Inshallah one day Pakistan will be really really free.

    Thanks again.

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  7. Dear Connie....thanks !

    I loved reading Ibn-e-Safi novels but that time I was only little girl. And I think Ibn-e-Safi has all the ingredients to impact the generation in positive. And these kind of writers are rare and the world can always find something new about their writing metaphores whenever their work are read.

    I am quite confident that one day we will again storm out Ibn-e-Safi work and with more energy.

    Lets hope...hmmm

    Thanks !

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  8. You mentioned video games there - same here - not only inflaming and teaching violence yet also trying to form the young into would-be heroes to fight a pointless "crusade" against each other. Little do our young realize how the profit-makers of video games and small arms on both sides of the world - yet perhaps US being MOST to blame, are USING these buyers of their "goods" to lead them to kill one another and even ultimately their families out of grieving and to help destory the world community of us all.

    Yet as you say, Thinking, this is so inferior to the true entertainment and values value of other works - which is and need be original in Pakistan. Yet, since the much less sublime has reached the bottom of the barrel and has become so repetitive, I'm wondering if perhaps once again soon the better will "catch on" as more and more find the same through us?

    Yes, we still have hope with people as you say, Thinking,"...like you (Khurram Ali Shafique Sahib) and so many others who has devoted their life to Pakistan and continously making efforts to re-develop the image of our good literature."
    (And from what little I've seen so far, it's FAR better than much in Europe and America!)

    And how good to know we are part of this renewal of the best writers and artists can offer through other's works and our own.

    Keep on keeping on!

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