Simple, Powerful

After two years, of pretending to be a blogger, I finally made myself sitdown to write another article so that my blog is actually a blog and not your one-article website.

I had/have alot of trouble finding inspiration to write about something so here goes.

We all can talk the talk. We love to talk! From politics, corruption to veena malik, mufti sahab, we all have something to say or opinions to lend.

However the essence of this article is to bring attention to the important question: "What can we do?"

Its my personal observation, but not a unique one, that although we can certainly talk, argue and debate about the reasons for our many problems, as Pakistanis we are united by the fact that we don't go to the very next level, and that is implementing the solutions to these problems. The same problems we chose to spend most of our times discussing.

You may bring to notice that we discuss problems such as the massive poverty and corruption the country is engulfed in, not to mention the war. And then you can rightfully ask: what can we do about these large scale problems if we are common citizens? How can we make any difference to these problems which require action on a national or international scale?

These are extremely discouraging questions but they are really good questions too. I have no intention of being your regular, obvious reminder: "little things/contributions can make a big difference." Someone has probably said that to you before. My real goal is to actually come up with a few ideas on what we actually CAN do. How can we make a little contribution?

I begin with two rules in mind:

1) the ideas should be easy to implement for anyone! They should not be things we do one day, but are unable to sustain the habit. Its the same concept as weight loss if you will. You need to make sustainable changes, dieting crazy for 2 weeks can be undone by 2 days of over-indulging when you can't bear starving any longer. Its been proved healthier and more efficient to make small but sustainable changes. Any ways rule number two.

2) My list can be completely wrong. Yes, firstly because I am making such a list for the first time so lack of experience, and secondly this list is one which I don't mind any criticism for. What I want to achieve is that we start talking and implementing solutions to our problems and start moving forward as a nation. So here it is:

Our country has such a large population, which causes a strain on our resources and possibly lead to the state of poverty. However, in our great numbers lies our miracle. We only need to make little changes on an individual level to cause a great impact since Pakistan has , the power of amplification.

Education is vital for our country. Literacy rates need to rise if we ever want to unite the two different view points we all feel exist within our country. One is that of the "educated", "liberals" and "moderates". The other is of the "religous extremists" ,"conservatives", "uneducated".

And surely we all sense that if all pakistanis had been to school, were fluent in our mother tongue as well as english, had been to debates, could understand what is written in "jungg" as well as BBC, CNN, there would not be so many conflicts or issues about things such as which political party is the least corrupt or was it right to kill Salman Taseer. I will not express any views as to what is the correct opinion about these issues , Im just indicating that if we all were educated, we might not argue so much about these controversies.

so the first thing we all can do is

1) educate a person. This may seem like an unsustainable long term commitment but think about it. Just educate one person. Or just make sure they get educated. It can be your maid's son, your driver, or a poor young servant. if you can't find anyone, donate enough for ONE person to an organization like TCF.

Money is obviously what you will need. We get enough on Eid, birthdays and other occasions to sponsor a regular primary education by just giving a small percentage away. If you do not have enough funds, ask your family and friends. But the main thing is, take the responsibility for a young pakistanis education. Take the duty of grooming an individual which benefits him/her and through that, your own country. So you don't need to get your own money or teach the person yourself neccessarily, all you need to do is to make it happen! And that is something we are all capable of.

2)

idea number 1) is a slightly long term investment idea. Idea number 2 should therefore suitably be something that makes a small but immediate difference.

Read a page of your Holy book every week. It will not take long, it takes 5 minutes to read a page. I think we too often say "im not so well informed about religious issues" and debates and arguements often reach points of "dude scholars are who will answer whether this is right" . The idea is to BECOME WELL INFORMED. Imagine 17 crore pakistanis all reading one page of translated Qur'an a week; understanding what the book we believe to be the word of God actually says. This small change can go a long way to eliminate the several differences in our nation due to religious misconceptions and wrong information. And if it does not have a huge impact, at the very least it benefits yourself as a person with more knowledge and wisdom.

3) keep a box, and collect 5 rupees in it everyday. You can afford to do that if you are reading this blog. 5*30 is 150. 150*12 is 1800 rupees. Multiply this number by say (assuming 25% Pakistanis can do this) 40,000,000(4 crores). 40,000,000*1800= 72,000,000,000. That is 7200 Crores of money/year which can really benefit any one who needs to be helped. This is money Pakistan can spend on ITSELF to improve itself if only a quarter of us give up 5 rupees everyday. Compared to a pepsi /or a cheap daily snack which costs more than this, its not much to give up. The difference is that by giving up 5 rupees a day that would have helped profit some company, you can gift a poor person 1800 rupees a year,an amount which say I may view as a weeks snacks, but for another person, its something which can really help ease problems. But the main idea is that if you actually take the intiative, and set aside a box for this purpose, you are more probable to collect and make your little contribution.

So there we have it, these might not be great ideas. Im sure , there being 170 million of us, some of us will come up with better ideas. As stated earlier, in our large numbers lies our power. I only wanted to start the chain. Please become both a leader and a follower in this cause.

inspiration for this article: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell