DEAR PATRIOT.

First of all, I am going to apologize for all the hatred I might spring in your heart as I offer my ignorant and “jahilana” views because they’d be different from yours. And I am saying this now because it’s all about to be over. Or I certainly hope so. And with all due respect, I’ll say I do not want “naya Pakistan”. No, I don’t. I don’t want renewal, I want revival. Laugh at me for my orthodox thinking but I want what Pakistan meant at one time. I want the passion and the spirit where people didn’t think twice before sacrificing their lives for the sake of this country. I want the determination where people were willing to let their blood nourish their land, fight a real battle for what mattered, not some stupid social media troll war, where bashing and trashing and abuse wins a war. But above all, I want the country that was made in the name of love, and not the hatred. I thought love is what wins us above all but oh sure Lord Voldemort, you can disagree.

Our generations were capable of hating. I realized it when it hit me that our ancestors never hated India, it was us. They loved the land, the people, and everything about it till they had to divide the land because of the conflicts between the people. But they never hated it.

 For the past few years, I have seen nothing but escalating hatred. And I am sick and tired of the abuse and the intolerance. How are you so absolutely sure about your choices? Why are you so convinced that you are the educated, well-reasoned, understanding intellectual and everybody else is a dumb retard? I mean really dude? That much arrogance? Have some humility brothers and sisters. Part of being human is our ability to be wrong. Sometimes, awfully wrong. So settle down, please?

Pakistan has suffered too much but I tell you it’s really hurting. I don’t think this much hatred was foreseen by our ancestors, or they might have reconsidered their decisions. You want democracy yet you cannot stand your fellow countrymen with a different opinion. They love this country as much as you do. Just because you have considered yourself a die-hard patriot doesn’t make you one. If you did love Pakistan as you have been claiming (which, of course, you do), you wouldn’t be so intolerant towards other people. It’s not just our politicians, our leaders, our rulers that are damaging the state. It is us. Our politicians are merely our reflections staring back at us but we refuse to call them that because we cannot accept how we have wronged the state and each other. We have divided and hated on each other. We have turned a blind eye to the matters that should have shaken us to our last cells. And we have stood there with the audacity to call each other a liar, a thief, a fool, all in the name of wanting the better for our country.

You want change? Well, change yourself. Accept the differences. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Stop ruining your relations over stupid politics. Politics has a lot of dark pathways you are not even aware of. Love each other. And oh, you call for change when you still think calling someone a “khusra” is a joke. What the hell is even funny in that? They are people like us. Better than us. They are not a joke. Minorities aren’t a joke. Somebody having a different religious point of view isn’t kaafir. We are all humans. We err. We sin. We are flawed. We have differences. Accept that. Be loyal to your country and do your duties because we all love to cheat a little when it’s not threatening enough (be it on an exam or a little lie we have just told). FOR THE LOVE OF ALMIGHTY, STOP THIS NONSENSE, THIS HATRED, THIS DISGUST. STOP IT. I don’t know if you can’t sense the pain we are causing Pakistan and might even think I have got a flair for the dramatic, but I am telling you, Pakistan is hurting. Because I have felt it. So I request you, please, please, for the sake of our beloved land, stop this, dear Patriot.

Peace.

HEAR, HEAR!

Even if you do enjoy your reputation as a mysterious Pandora box, at some point in your life you’d want to be understood or accepted or at the very least, heard. And it’s a beautiful feeling knowing that there is someone you can rely on, to shower down your rants on, because you know they’d listen, they’d understand, they won’t judge. As a return, you’d offer them your ear. In short, you’re there for each other. But are we though? (If you don’t get this reference, I hate you.) Anyway, the point is, why are we all so miser to offer our services to a limited few? The world is in chaos. Moral, psychological, emotional chaos. You’re not the only damsel in distress. There are ones who are suffering and they don’t have the kind of support you do. Maybe you’re one of them. See the point is, we are so drenched in our own oceans of tears, we barely notice someone who is one step away from tearing apart. We might assure someone we are there for them, we may even listen to them, but why do we keep failing to hear it? The desperate need to be actually heard? To be helped? To be held together?

We are losing too many precious people. Because we didn’t see it. They weren’t the type to do such a thing as to kill themselves. Hey, you know what? Maybe they weren’t the type, but we weren’t the type to kill people either but our actions, our neglect did let someone to take their life. And we are okay with it? Because we have ourselves convinced it wasn’t us. It’s like handing over a loaded gun to someone and saying it was them who pulled the trigger. So your honor, might wanna consider hanging their dead body for it?

Yes, suicide isn’t the solution. It’s not the answer. A person committing suicide is as much responsible for his death as are the other people. When you let your thoughts strangle you, choke the life out of you, when you swallowed the pill of your self-created poison, when you removed the safety from the gun, knowing that there is a weak point. Maybe you self-designed that bullet of your doubts; maybe you polished the blunt of your knife with the edge of your self-esteem. Now I apologize if I sound too insensitive towards your struggles, or depression or anxiety. I am not being insensitive. There is an underlying truth. And I apologize for being carried away from the point, it just seemed important.

Okay, let’s just leave the worst case scenario behind. There are lots of reasons we need to hear out other people. If you wish to be understood, try to understand other people as well. In that inside out world of yours, maybe you’re always the right one, but let’s face it. There are times when you are wrong. Stop being so rigid and take other people’s point of views. And respect them enough to at least agree to disagree. Trashing people around for having different views than you is not making you a better person. In this world of social media addicts, it’s so cool to be a savage troll. Oh, you don’t care about other people? You must be awesome. And stop. Just stop fooling yourself by saying it’s just a joke. If you’re leaving behind respect, going around telling people what ignorant fools people are for holding a different political perspective than yours, you're a horrible person. Because they don’t support your leader, it’s okay for you to bash them with anything that comes in your mind. Oh, they are not even real football fans. Well, congratulations, 10 points for your originality. No, STOP! Shut up and let people live. Stop being such a bully. HEAR THEM OUT. 

And when you start to actually hear people, when you respect them enough to try to see the point of view from their perspective, life would be better. I mean you’d be willing to do it if it was your crush, wouldn’t you? Hell, you’d even hang upside down from a tree branch to see it from their perspective. Why not let it sink? If you still don’t accept it, respect it enough; at least tell yourself they are different. Hear them out. Hear yourself out. When your own soul is screaming for attention, not of others but yours? Give it the freaking attention. And once you start hearing with an intention to understand, you’d even hear the silence.