Quality of Life

Last week i was talking to a friend and we chanced upon analyzing the lifestyle of the successful citizens of western economies. Most of our generation aspires towards the ideal of a lifestyle that we see in western movies and tv, and we emulate their dress, their accent, their way of life as we percieve or imagine it to be. This is a fact that most of our young people would like to move abroad and live that life . But another fact is that if they want a lifestyle like that, once abroad, they have to live a fairly regimented life, where most of the day is spent working and the rest doing chores, and only on weekends do they get a respite. This is the routine of a successful executive living in say, NYC. But here the boys and girls live off the money of their parents, and pretend the outward trappings of a rich and decadent lifestyle which is actually composed of using internet devices, hanging out with friends, going out and ...well not much apart from that. this alarming tendency emerging among our youth was memorably captured in the Pakistani movie" Slackistan". Most of us and our younger generation want to get rich as early in life as possible, taking easy ways, emphasizing that quality of life matters more than the achievements and successes that their parents might want them to aspire to. Yet this is a contorted view of the western ideal. Those who have lived abroad know that most of the people there work twice as much as we do. But here, the young people want the lifestyle, but dont want the work . It is also a fact that the majority of the people in the west are working as entrepreneurs at different levels. Here in Pakistan we lack the opportunities but also the drive to work for ourselves, to work with our hands,take initiative, take risks and strike out on our own. ever when trained and educated in business, most of our youth would like to do a job, in the private or public sector, making perhaps half of what they could earn if they worked as entrepreneurs. Naturally, if everyone wants to work for somebody else, we will not have growth and people becoming millionnaires. Well well well. The cobwebs of the mind are mostly social and tangled in the feudal mindset. It is not the done thing to work with your own hands. It is more socially acceptable to have a job, and among the lower classes, a government job, even if it is that of a peon, because it reflects a certain amount of stability. Perhaps we do not have opportunities, perhaps the government is to blame for not having policies which crate an enabling environment. But modern USA was not made by the government, it was made by the pioneering businessmen and spculators who established businesses which resulted in huge growth of the economy. All the government needs to do is not to interfere too much , but a social change and change in the way we think about growth and achievement is required in Pakistan. We need to encourage our young ones to stand up and achieve on their own steam, rather than be forty years old and still expecting dole outs from their parents and lackmailing aging parents if they do not oblige. This vicious circle of exploitation masquerading in the form of obeisance within families needs to end. Each young bird in the nest needs to learn to fly on its own. The problem with parents is that we see our children not as individuals but extentions of ourselves and feel slighted if they are not successful, spending our whole lifetime sustaining them whereas it should be the other way round if at all. We need to open our eyes to these realities. i wish the quality of life by the youth is not weighed by not only how much money you have or u spend, but also on how much you work to achieve this on your own. An independent life, not obliged to anybody, should be the best life. The true determinant of the quality of life is making it all happen on your own steam, not as a parasite. Acting as an individual, we stand to gain much more, indivudually and collectively.

When its not enough

Lots of friends ask me why what I have is not enough for me. A good enough job, no major financial cares, three beautiful children who are doing ok in theirs schools, why i am not attracted to more leisure actitvities, why i dont want to go to coffee parties, why i dont "enjoy life " in its myriad connotations, including fashionable passtimes like drinking, smoking, socializing a lot, going for holidays, etc. Its true i have a settled life and a small number of friends and family members that I can count on, and who can count on me. Yet the usual passtimes do not attract me. I love my work, I love my responsibilities but I have difficulty ignoring the world around me and the huge collective problems that we face as a society. Being a part of the government, i can see the ineffectual and often half hearted efforts to take this country in the right direction, that the civil servants and other stakeholders make. It fills me with cringing, how people who are responsible for the fates of the nation are more interested in their golf and squash games than important work to be done. It is then that I feel a deep cringing of the "good life" which is in essence irresponsible. How people are judged and positioned at government positions not due to their ability and hard work, but due to their ability to massage the egos of their bosses, and their sheer mediocrity that makes the boss feel more secure in their presence. These attitudes make me cringe, and feel repulsed with the enjoyment that people of my class are indulging in, without any care to their rersponsibilities. Such an existence, is not enough for me. I do not feel attracted to it, I do not aspire to it. I do aspire, as a responsible citizen of the society, to do my bit to make this world a better place, and my country a better place. Leisure, fun, enojyment, have theoir place in one's life, but not in the life of a person in the government, in a responsible position, who has been given the chance to help others improve thier lot in life. Lack of this empathy and sense of responsibility, is one of the biggest failing of the Pakistan bueraucracy. we have decided that once in service, it is our ticket to all sorts of benefits that we are entitled to milk from our positions. But have we ever thought that on each position, what contributions have made to this country by the time we leave it? no, that is not a genuine concern of the normal joe behind the desk in a government office. All sorts of excuses are given for this: what has this country given to us, what are the politicians and dicatators doing, so on and so forth. But have we provided the politicians any workable solutions to the ills of the system? no. HAve we done our job over the generations? no. Have we stood our ground notwithstanding lack of facilities? no. Our whole concentration is on surviving one more day. This way of living selfishly, this aproach is not enough for me. My father and others tried to make me make it ok, but they never succeeded. It is not the only purpose of ones life. We are here for a reason and each of us have a responsibility to fulifill. It is not enough to enrich oneself. Our life can only suffice when we give our time and effort to help others too, those who are not our family and friends, many we will not even meet, much less get their thanks, but we in our hearts will know that we have done our duty by them. That is the standard i judge myself on, and each in public office must do the same.

Privacy of the individual

I am a victim of character assassination, disinformation, propaganda and defamation by so many individuals and organizations on internet. My enemies left no stone unturned to spread rumours about me, malign my character and portray me as somebody which is not even remotely like me. I remember that i could find no way to tell people that what they were saying was not true. Nobody was willing to listen to me, my family was getting embarrassed and blaming me for all the hoopla, when i had no hand in it. Clearly, somebody wanted to destroy my reputation, my dignity and my self respect. They nearly succeeded. But for my strong belief in God, I would have broken down, descended into depression. One of my "well wishers " also suggested suicide as a possible solution when i was at my lowest ebb. But then , We must all remember that God, the Almighty , most gracious, most merciful, is also the greatest Conspirator. Nobody can be smarter than him, and you can fool the whole world, but you cannot fool Him. He will see to it that justice is done through any instrument of his choosing. So i lived. And survived. through the deceit, the conspiracy, the backstabbing of seemingly close friends. When I tried clarifying my name through the print media, nobody helped me. nobody wanted to help me. The only thing that came to my rescue, where i found the freedom of expressing my thoughts, was the cyberspace. Here was a universe where all were equal and had the same rights to express themselves. No references or exploitation was a part of airing your views. And apart from my thoughts, i had so much to say about the world that I live in, our society, my work, my other passions, the causes that i believe in.Cyberspace made me free. It made so many others like me feel that they had a voice, that it could be heard, and that what they thought mattered and they had a right to express themselves rather than toeing other's lines. Cyberspace is all about individual freedom and having access to information and rights, if you are looking for them. It is the ultimate level playing field. To each his own choice of using the internet, which we may not like or dislike, but we have no right to take away their freedom or right of expression. If we are in the right, we do not need to be afraid of what they say. we just need to change the narrative. But now the government wants to pass the Cybercrime Bill which has no room for the concept of privacy of the inividual. Such intrusions on the basic human rights of people should be weeded out of the Bill. dissent is the essence of democracy and personal freedoms should be guarded jealously. I and so many persons like me have a voice. It should not be gagged. ]