All publications of Syed Zia Hasan . راولپنڈی , Pākistān
Character building
Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.
Character is a set of behavior traits that define what sort of person an individual is. It determines whether a person will effectively achieve goals, be forthright in dealing with others and will obey the laws and rules of the group.
Simply put, true success is determined by not how much you make, but how you make it and how you live your life. Character and integrity are key. No matter how rich you are, if you lack character, you have nothing.
What is character? It means that you operate from a base of integrity, which means that you operate within your moral code, even when no one is watching you or there to reward you. It means that fear and guilt are temporary and occasional visitors to your life who simply appear to help you make amends when necessary but don't stay long. It means that you have nothing to hide, which in turn gives you the freedom to achieve success to its fullest.
Some people call this the "golden rule," whereby they treat others as they would want to be treated. Every day, you have a chance (or more than one) to practice this rule for yourself. For example, if at work you are tempted to steal credit for someone else's idea so that you're the one who receives the promotion, this is at best a hollow victory and not really yours. Rather, practicing the golden rule means giving credit where credit is due -- and that means taking it (with modesty) when it's yours as well. Only then will the goals you reach be truly yours and be worth your pride. On the other hand, if you step on people to get where you're going, you can only expect that the same is going to happen to you by others. In short, you get what you give.
Character building implies incorporating the values in the young ones which helps them in leading a civilized life. Giving values to your next generation is the key to their success, e. g., values of humility, mannerism, respect, etiquettes, mutual co-existence, social attitude and empathy. In the modern times, the most important thing we need is mutual co-existence. Whether we like someone or not, we must learn how to tolerate people and inculcate the same in our next generation.
Understanding and identifying the difference between right and wrong is at the base of character building. It is the fundamental of every religion in the world. If we succeed in inculcating it in the children, we have achieved the whole purpose of their upbringing. It might be achieved by religious teaching, grooming and careful observation of the children’s habits and actions. Direct upbraiding would not do much. It would result in rebellion in the child. Instead, we should devise some indirect methods. Illustrative methods, movies, storybooks, comics etc. might be used to inculcate such things in them.
The Psychological State of Pakistani Nation
I agree with the statement that 90% of the brain arteries are blocked not of ex-PM Nawaz Sharif but that of Pakistan nation. We lack patience and long term vision so much we can't wait for a few more years to reap the fruit of the changes PTI government is making in the system. We gave almost 4 decades to the status-quo parties but can't give 5 years to the third option!
Despite of suffering at the hand of those two political parties for over 35 years, we are still ready to call them back in power. The way PPP and PML-N have plundered our nation has very few parallels in the World. They have ruined every institution just for the sake of filling their own pockets and all that very shamelessly! I’d rather say shamelessly is a very small word to describe what they have done to this nation.
The recent example of PIA is an eye opener! The sugar mafia, the IPPs scam, Pakistan Steel Mills are some of the other examples. On the similar fashion, what they have done to the democratic institutions speaks volumes about their incapacity, opportunism and vendetta politics. The scope and purpose of elected representatives is to legislate in the interest of the nation. Whereas, our public representatives whom we vote and send in the provincial and national assemblies have always been busy in those projects from which they can make money, e.g., road constructions, building concrete streets and alleys, building bridges etc., and getting other huge contracts. The various burning issues which require legislation have been looming over and over decades.
The devolution of power which should have been the real objective of real democracy have always been postponed by these opportunist politicians. The trickle down impact of democracy would have reached the common man if the authority and finances had been transferred to local bodies / basic democracies at the union council level. But they didn’t let them happen because of in that they had to transfer the funds to local representatives and in that they would have found them powerless. If the power is devolved to the grass root level, the probability of exploring new and young political leadership increases with the passage of time. Democracy is itself a filtering process – the election process after the interval of every five years filters bad leaders and brings better one next time and this process revolves over and over and after a certain time period the better politicians are automatically given the power. We can see this in practicality in Turkey in the shape of Tayyep Egdogen. Similar is the example of Malaysia – over a perpetual process of progressive democracy those nations have found such ideal leaders, they don’t want to leave because they have taken them to progressive trajectory by strenuous efforts.
The blue print of devolution of power presented in the time of Ayub Khan’s era and later on attempted with a resolute political will in Pervaiz Musharraf’s era is a better concerted attempt we now need to carry forward from that point. This will prove to be very fruitful in the long run for our nation. We need at least 15-20 years of a perpetual, unhindered and uninterrupted democratic process that can bring a new political leadership who is more sincere with our people and who can lead us in a positive and progressive direction. This will emancipate us from the legacy of hereditary politics which has sucked our nation for many decades!
