Thursday, August 18, 2005

More on the nation of shortcuts

Well, we are a nation of shortcuts, (which basically translates to the word "corrupt", but I wouldnt use exactly that word to save some of your ego), and I was watching an interesting show on TV last night. I hate talk shows, but this one was nice. There were three learned people and a jerk of a host (who reminds me of that stupid, idiot, stubborn O'Reilly from Fox), who was behaving for once. They talked about the way our youth celebrates Independence Day by riding bikes without silencers etc. I'm glad that unlike other talk shows they didnt catch every tom dick and harry from the streets, because we love to talk, and try to sound intellectual when we actually dont even know what we are saying, and dont mean what we are saying, dont follow/implement what we are saying. Adnan Farooq was pointing out a show a while ago on TV in which a lady on the street was urging everyone to come out and "cast as many votes as possible." That is stupid!
Anyway, the discussion on last night's talk show was quite intellectual as there actually were learned people talking (for a change). They cited a number of reasons for this behavior, one of which is lack of healthy or constructive release of energies, which in turn goes out negatively. I agree. For instance, an Islamabad Police Psychiatry Doctor suggested that we build racing tracks for cars and bikes and give an opportunity to our skilled riders and drivers the opportunity to try out their skills and prove that they are the best. Maybe someone would actually get international recognition. He cited that less deaths occur on the international racing tracks in an year than on Lahore streets due to wheeling in one day. Also suggested were other competitions of theatre, sports etc, and roadside arts galleries.
They pointed out the lack of organization amongst us. The police is not going to provide that, we should have it in us. Let's be fair, what would you do, if you had an adolescent son, who was caught by the police doing something nasty like snatching a lady's purse or wheeling (I'm not saying the actually nasty things through self sensorship)? Wouldnt you call up everyone of your "influential" relatives and friends? Wouldnt you try to get the sucker out of the lockup asap? Why? Are you above the law? Like the Federal Law Minister? See, it's in us all. You cant blame the Law Minister. You would've done the same thing if you were him, so if he's a criminal, so are you. (And me, too.) What do we complain of then? We have no right to complain. We are the wrong doers ourselves. Why not let the sucker stay in the lockup for a change amongst the sewer stuff. It'll do him/her some good. What do we do when we are stopped after a traffic violation? We try to avoid the proper punishment and try to escape by greasing the palm of the traffic cop. Once again I say, we are a nation of shortcuts, and what stinks is that the shortcut is always longer than the regular route. Wake up, we've slept way too long.