may god never give me power.... amen.

It is a well known fact that with power comes great responsibility, responsibility to be wise , to put others before you, to be far sighted in the decisions you make. It is a very humble request from my heart that if god has given you power , power to effect even one person’s life please don’t ruin it. We tend to become out of control in our effort to gain control over another being. This is not just a fact that can be seen when taking under consideration political scenarios like Gaza, Iraq , Burma, Somalia or any other country or nation, its not even how our own countries economy and social set up is being molded , its about the basic nature of us humans. Be it any relation or any other social affiliations we have , if we know that somebody’s self respect or any other important aspect of life can be affected by what we do, we tend to exploit it. We make sure that the person would remember that he ever crossed our path. No wonder god said that He would test us by giving us power n we think that since we are not royalty or head of state or any politician so we are exempted by this examination of our character strength. But if you think about it more closely we would find out that each and every one of us is being tested upon for the very criterion ; being in power , being able to effect people. If you are a nobody even than you would have people depending upon you , if you don’t agree than think again…. Even if you are just an ordinary man even than your relations are dependent upon you, if nobody else than your kids are and as a parent I can assure you that we try to mess their minds and ideals more than we even realize. We have grown this narrow set of rules that we follow about life and religion and the out come has to be in our favor. We by nature can not be gracious enough to co exist without dominating a human being or getting dominated by another. All of the nation in the past , present and I am sure in future have been trying their best to create a world of peace , a safe heaven where THEY can guide the rest of the humans about how to live, what is right and wrong and achieve such a noble and divine task they choose the tool of war and hatred and each and every religion that these nations follow teach them about tolerance and love and peace and yet for the same religion they fight and kill. It appears that they are fighting on behalf of God instead of for him. God in any religion never ordered to fight for him , or to choose hatred to spread His name, this negates the concept of God. We humans have the arrogance to think that we are needed to make God popular among the masses and this audacity amazes me. If we understand that our only responsibility is to do what our God wants us to do , than half our problems will be solved. We have fought each other for centuries to create peace and harmony and yet a day hasn’t passed in this world where everybody was in peace. I was watching Joan of arc and one scene just explained it for me.... the scene is that Joan of arc was captured and the priests accused her of doing this all for herself and not god while she in her mind was doing it for god as a prophecy and then she goes into this psychological trance. I think that explains a part of each one of us.... I think we all do what we want to and use a justification for our actions that we did it for a greater cause. I think under the fake blanket of graciousness and virtue we all have our own selfish and meager interest. I have seen that the people who really want to serve don’t want power and those who want power don’t want to serve. Even if we don’t accept this but the truth is that those who actually believe in God believe in humanity, in harmony , in coexisting . For them the concern is not who is right and who is wrong or how they can force people to accept what they think is right , actually they don’t have any concern for them their own relation with their God should be strong and pure rest just falls into place. We have wasted centuries of intelligence in finding out the correct law to live and yet we don’t understand what living is. And so I rest my case I just want to be happy and contended in my life as I feel that no amount of riches or power is worth it if they don’t make you happy. And if simple things in life make you happy than you have hit home, you have learnt the art of living. And for my dream in life , to achieve happiness it is very important for me to understand that power and happiness don’t go together … so I pray I never have the power to affect anybody’s life on a smaller or larger scale because I for one understand the responsibility that comes with power.  

political de ja vu

The other day I was listening to a political program and it made me wonder; how easy it is to change the thinking and make us follow a trend webbed so cleverly around us that we fall in the same trap again and again. Before I give you my views or thoughts I would , I want to clarify that I don’t follow any political party as I think that selecting bad from worse is not a choice but a “majboori” which in my small opinion is something I would rather pass. I know some of you would say that if I don’t vote I should not say anything but then again I personally cant hero worship people without finding faults with them and their thinking. I mean it is some kind of obligation in the minds of most of our people that if we agree or follow a political group, we have to blindly agree and follow them and even if somebody criticizes them, we should turn hostile. So please before reading what I have to say, keep your anger aside and think.I just met a friend of mine who has recently found that Salvation is by following PTI. I am not against Imran Khan, actually I am a fan of his cricket and when he married Jamima and people called him names, I argued with them that he is not doing anything wrong. But when it comes to politics I have some reservations, not because of his personality but because of how he started and where he is headed. I mean it is not hidden that PTI was started by him with the support of retd gen. In fact his first manifesto was written by a retd gen who was information sectary in Zia’s regime. He is friends with a lot retd generals and their sons and plays ‘shikar’ with them and stay at their farm houses and they support him. Even Pervez Musharraf sent him puppies through a friend. So his connection with the “agencies” as they call them is not hidden and cannot be hidden. But what I don’t agree with is that he criticizes them so passionately. But he is not the only one who has gone through the same path and we have seen the result before in history as well. Let’s turn back time and see that similar leaders have emerged and followed the same path and got the same response and unfortunately the end was similar too. I truly hope and wish from the bottom of my heart that this time the end is different and positive. One great politician of the past who stirred same emotions and love in the people specially the students and youngsters and even the critics of that time is a name still loved by people and still is being cashed in politics as a savior, I think you all have guessed that the name is of none other than Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. He was introduced by his mentor Ayub khan who was a general; he even served in his regime as well. When Bhutto sahib gained popularity and response similar to Imran he left the mentor and started one of the biggest parties of our country. The rest is known by all and as they say is history. He had the same ardent follow ship by so many just like the millions of people following Imran. Another important and great politician who has enjoyed an equal amount of love from people and still does is Nawaz Sharif. He too was a protégé of gen. Zia, served in his regime and then flourished. His career is still going on and we have witnessed his positive and negative policies. Another huge similarity that we should not turn a blind eye to is that all of these used and are still using the strength of the population that can turn the nation and when the damage is done it is too late to fix it. Yes that strength is the youth, the students, and the future of any nation. All of our political leaders without any exception urge the students to play their role, come on the streets shed blood. And this strength has given these leaders immortality, made them emerge as such hugely popular and strong leader that you can’t imagine. I once read that some students welcomed Quaid-e-azam Mohd. Ali Jinnah at a station and offered their support, services and blood. And the Quaid said that if you want to serve their nation, concentrate on your studies. But our leaders want blood wants students out on roads and ironically people call them the Quaid. Any ways I think that if you want to follow any of the options that are available please don’t do that blindly. Please criticize them when necessary, please object when they are deviating from their manifesto, please don’t make them as Sufis or dervish to be followed without question or objection. I want to request the same form the media personalities, the anchors and the critics as a huge responsibility lies with them as well. They should realize that whomever they promote or agree with puts a huge impact and influence on people. They set trends and we follow and like all trend setters they have a big responsibility on their shoulders. As the saying goes ‘with great power comes greater responsibility’. So you see, it is dejavu and this time my heart beats faster and prays harder that God please bless us with a different ending.