A logical approach to use our talents and energy to help others is to focus on areas we are most familiar. BY this approach the most likely people that we have to focus is our community because we are most familiar with their needs, problems, culture, religion, language and also have better relations and connections...... I tried to stick to this line of reasoning but over time I realized that I can't be irrelevant to people around me....
I can't go without getting affected from people I see on the roads, school, shopping centers, public places and buses. I think I got a very light heart that moves badly by general appearances of people, their facial expressions and their talks......
I was waiting on bus stop around 4: 10 p.m. A fat woman who barely could walk came and sat to chair next to me. "Damn.....damn...." she sighed and breathing fast as she sat next to me. She was really tired...but still had to work...
I was really disturbed by this...and still it makes me sad whenever I remember... I just gave an example but frankly, I see everyday several of these cases where I can clearly read despair and helplessness in eyes, facial expressions and talks of men and women....
I can't go not moved by their conditions...but because I am a foreigner and I am not familiar with culture so I do not want to make people get offended by my compassion so I bury my sorrow deep down in my heart....
I know my existence does not matter to a lot of people. I do not exist for a lot of people but on contrary, People matters to me... To me everybody I come across exist..
When I hear the expressions like, I don't care...or they do not exist for me...I ask myself, why I can't make it that people who have no link to me or to my life do not exist in my thoughts...
One way that I explain it for myself is...Everybody, even those I feel sympathetic with carry a big gift for me...their unique perspective about life...their perspectives are very different than mine....I take it as a gift...I value it...it let me love the life and experience it from a new perspective that I was blind to....
Some may look at it as emotional...or as a sign of weakness...but I take it as a sign of liveliness. I think people collectively have bigger plans for us than we have for ourselves... They might not saying us but their expressions shape our life. If their expressions of praise stimulate and encourage us....their criticisms make us determined that correct ourselves and prove us...if by their relating themselves to us make feel strong similarly by discriminating us as "others" they make us have an identity and make it achieve new glories.....
People around me....is part of my existence because they have dreams, pride, identity and want to have a role in this world...and most importantly to be master of their fates...It is what they share with me...I learn how they shape their destinies and how they overcome their sufferings..
If my more familiarity to my community make them my priority but it doesn't mean I don't care about "others"...their pride, identity, dreams are part of my existence and matters to me...
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
Retreating youths
The exposures of young generation to world affairs and their deepening knowledge about history, politics and economics make their desires deepened to have a role in increasing connected world. However this desire seems to be naïve as number of stakeholders in global affairs and the competitions get tough and tougher. The increasing numbers of the stakeholders and increasing levels of competition makes different categories among young generation. The majority of young people who find no role in global affairs they retreat from real global affairs to global fashion trends and non-issues. When the youths find their voices not heard even in their own countries they isolate themselves from real issues and take refuge to personal relationships. The movies help them to idealize a heroic role in relationships and you see their actions and their expressions concentrate around the concept of love. Still those who fail in attracting opposite gender they retreat more inwards idealized, fantasized and romanticized relationships…The retreats of large part of youths is a tragedy…They need an emancipation and communities have need to realize and help these youths to bring them out from their isolation and to link them to real world………
Effects of culture on politicians
News trends in politics are that the popular faces in politics are not much based on the political ideologies and performances but on the appearances and speech performances of politicians. Sarah Palin and Obama are two politicians that people follow them around the world not because they represent democrats or republicans but because they appear and perform their speeches very close to Hollywood stars…. Hollywood has shaped the US citizen tastes so the politicians who have same levels of performances get more attention. Hollywood is not limited to US only…it is popular around the world and its movies have shaped the tests of youths around the world….So Sarah Palin and Barrack Obama are representing the modern tastes…The modern politicians need the understand the changing tastes of people around the world..
This may seem an interesting hypothesis but not replicate the reality. Let me give another example from Pakistan so it not remains a mere hypothesis. The tastes of Muslims in subcontinent have shaped by sermons of the religious scholars in mosques (it is frequent almost weekly) before the advent of radio, television and satellite networks. People liked the scholars who have used emotional and angry tones. Scholars with mild tones were considered having weak nerves, lacking determinations and even lacking clear understanding. Angry tone and challenging opponents were signs of strong personalities….
As politics become widespread especially after democratization the politicians with emotional and angry tone become popular. The Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and his daughter Benazir are popular examples…Cultures really effects and politicians need to follow developing cultural tastes of people in order to remain popular…..
Monday, December 13, 2010
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