How Can they Both be Alike?

The virtues of honour, dignity, self-respect and self-esteem are neither linked to wealth and affluence, nor are they associated with poverty and misery. Sometimes, they are displayed by the poorest man, while on other occasions, they vanish from the home of the richest and most prosperous person. But one of the cruelest lessons of history is that it never likes to preserves in its pages, the name of any individual, nation or leader, who preferred luxury and wealth to dignity and honour.

Even if the terribly frightened people who are always pre-occupied with their own vested interests, get together, we should not expect to find the traces of dignity, honour, self-respect and self-esteem in their dialogues and conversations. In their joint declarations, they are often found addressing their masters in an apologetic and humble tone and making such statements as, You are our benefactors. ‘We wish to live in peace. ‘Why are you accusing us ? We haven’t done any such thing.’

If their master is annoyed with them, they start accusing one another by making such remarks as ‘You must have done something which has incurred the wrath and fury of the master.’ I know that your mistakes have led to the present alarming situation. ‘We were leading a reasonably happy life with a ‘respectable’ income, job opportunities, quality education for our children, homes and businesses. But you have destroyed everything by unnecessarily putting your hand into the bee-hive.’ Pleasing the master is not a child’s play. It may take as many as ten years to find a place in his good books. In order to get closer to the master, we have to hear and bear the constant jeers and taunts of our own people in the streets and only then, we manage to gain our master’s pleasure and good will to a certain extent. But your stupid actions have rendered useless, all our hardwork and struggle. ‘What the hell do you wish to achieve from such actions and policies?

‘Do you wish to ruin the whole country?’

Such remarks are made by those of our countrymen who have nothing to do with this country. Their lands, businesses, properties, children and even life and death have no concern with this country. Their lands and businesses are pledged against bank loans. These loans are made up of the hard earned money which the poor people of our country have deposited in banks as their savings. The children of such landowners and businessmen are leading a safe life in the land of their masters. Their days are spent in pursuit of wealth, while nights are consumed in all sorts of comforts and luxuries. Most of them have their businesses abroad and the few businesses they have in this country are being run with the money which the poor masses of our country have depos ited in the saving accounts of our banks. If they suffer from some major or minor disease, they never like to lie on the beds of our country’s hospitals, because they feel a kind of bad smell coming from the beds and rooms of our hospitals and from the doctors and nurses who work there. Even for their minor medical check up, they at once fly to the land of their masters. People will surely be stunned and flabbergasted, if they are shown on their TV screens the bills of money paid by the health department of this poor country for the medical check ups of our ruling elite in foreign hospitals. Now, their earnings have multiplied to such proportions, that they do not stand in need of getting bills from the government.

The virtues of honour, dignity, self-respect and self-esteem are neither linked to wealth and affluence, nor are they associated with poverty and misery. Sometimes, they are displayed by the poorest man, while on other occasions, they vanish from the home of the richest and most prosperous person. But one of the cruelest lessons of history is that it never likes to preserves in its pages, the name of any individual, nation or leader, who preferred luxury and wealth to dignity and honour. Once, the state of Israel was also faced with a similar situation. It was the time when Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir was negotiating with weapons manufacturing companies for buying huge quantities of arms and ammunition for the country. On the other hand, in view of the severe economic problems confronted by the country at that time, Israeli parliament (Knesset) vigorously opposed the idea of spending so much money on defense. Paying no heed to the parliamentary debates and resolutions, Golda Meir made no cuts in the defense budget and bought the required weapons, with the help of which Israeli forces gave a crushing defeat to the whole Arab world. Later, when a journalist asked her about her decision to go against the will of the parliament, she remarked, ‘After thinking over the matter for a long time, I arrived at the conclusion that history is not at all interested in knowing whether or not the members of a nation take eggs, toasts and jam in their breakfast. Instead, history only distinguishes between the conquerors and the conquered and between those who lead an honourable and dignified life and those who are devoid of such virtues. I have learnt this lesson from the life of Prophet Muhammad. At the time of his demise, his wife Aisha did not even have the oil for lighting the lamp  and she had to borrow the oil from her neighbour. But the Prophet had left as many as eight swords in his inheritance.

There comes a time in the history of the nations when Allah decides to punish them for their evil deeds and wrong doings. Referring to it, Allah says in the Holy Quran, ‘When We decide to destroy a population, We (first) send a definite order to those among them who are given the good things of this life and yet transgress; so that the word is proved true against them: then (it is) We destroy them utterly. ‘(Surah Bani Israel, verse 16)

On such occasions, when decisions regarding the destinies of the people are finalized, even if all of them get together, they are not expected to show any sign of dignity and honour. At the All Parties Conference held in Islamabad to discuss American threats, were our political leaders speaking in the tone of the 180 million people of our country? Of course not because the 180 millions people of our country speak in a dignified tone and wish to live and die as an honourable nation. Their tone of speech and approach towards life are entirely different from the tone and approach of those who claim to be their leaders and representatives. The 180 million people of our country have now got nothing to lose, while their so-called leaders are afraid of losing their 93 billion dollars kept in Swiss banks. How can both of them be alike, and how can both of them think in the same way?