Rafiq, our assistant at work is appearing for his paper tomorrow on civic sense. Since it was a pertinent topic, one that had often come up this past year, thanks to its glaring scarcity in our city, evident from the uncouth behaviour on the roads of motorists etc.
And as we had no idea about it, and had been deliberating the subject, we asked him what civic sense involved. Did such a subject actually exist in Pakistan? By the behaviour exhibited it did not seem possible. "Its about citizenship," he said evasively and some other vague big sounding terms.
But when pressed for further elaboration of what citizenship entailed. What qualified a person to be a good citizen, did a person who threw out his garbage on the streets qualify as good citizen?
The poor chap kind of evaded the question, saying apologetically, "I'll get you the text book , we just learn the answers by heart. This is not a question I've learnt for the exams etc." His reply opened the floodgates to a torrent of questions and a explosion of responses in our tiny room.
Where to begin? On our mode of teaching at colleges, our attitude to learning. As we explained to him that the purpose of knowledge is for self-improvement, to learn one good thing everyday, for yourself, not for your career or for passing an exam, but to be a better person is what the Islamic definition of knowledge is about.
What is imparted at schools, colleges, through rote learning and set questions for exams is merely acquiring information, storing it for a short while, regurgitating it for the paper, project etc and then discarding it. That does not make you any wiser. You remain ignorant if you haven't learned any deeper lessons from all this information.
A person becomes wise not from how much information he has swotted from his innumerable books and degrees and tasks performed or wealth or even from his age, but from what he's learnt within, how every experience has changed him to be a better more human person, to empathise, appreciate others as humans with their rights and responsibilities. Wisdom makes one aware of the higher universal laws which prevail over humanity and of which we are but a small part and hence our fist lesson is of humility.
That not everything is within our control or centers around us, that others are too part of the universal pattern with their own roles to play , duties etc.
Wisdom teaches us, through experience, how to respect others and deal with different situations in the best, most humane way, without loosing self control, or despairing etc. Wisdom teaches you a lot about faith, confidence and self-possession.
So Rehan tried to explain to our assistant that he should learn for himself , as a lesson for himself, then he would remember what he's read. Its pathetically laughable: civic sense is learnt in the form of questions and answers, by heart .
Which is why there seems to exist no concept of civic sense in our country. What makes one a good citizen? A good person for that matter. If you embezzle and cheat your fellow citizens, siphoning away your ill-gotten wealth in foreign accounts are you a good responsible citizen? If you brazenly break the law, of construction, traffic, etc are you a good citizen?
If you are carry out the building of public thoroughfares and in any capacity use substandard material or contract the projects to undeserving parties, who do the same, are you being good citizens or a good government officials?
If you are a supposedly patriotic multinational, but are siphoning all the profits to your host foreign country and refuse to provide employment and development to the local populace, instead crowding out development of the local industry, can you then claim to be a good citizen ?
If you refuse to carry out your responsibilities as a public doctor , refusing to give time and diagnose a poor patient correctly , prescribing him expensive tests instead, are you being a good citizen? I think most of us would fail the test of being good citizens.
Since it is all about how your actions are benefiting or harming your country's interests or of your fellow countrymen. You can pray and fast and act holy but if you are spiteful and steal from others its all mere show, and of no benefit to you or others in the long run.
As Wasif, my colleague, pointed out that we seemed to have forgotten our duties and only remember to demand and cry out for our rights, the rights of women, children and the elderly, but do the women, and the elderly remember their duties?
Have they fulfilled them before seeking for their own demands and calling their offspring selfish? It's a long established rule, 'As you shall sow, so shall you reap'. You get back and in the same way, what you had dealt to others.
If you had tried to steal some other's spouse or tried to devour another's rights, be sure that sometime or the other you will be dealt with in the same way , that you too will be at the mercy of others, for we all have to grow old and our actions do come back to us through the next generation. Most elderly people complain that the young do not respect them, but are they acting as role models to inspire respect?
If the elderly are indulging in unlawful behaviour or that which is undignified, then respect would be hard to be elicit from anyone. Similarly are women fulfilling their duties, as women, before asking for special privileges, most women would not even know their basic duties. nowadays.
We only demand and want but never give. Whereas a saint urged that everyday one should begin the day by thinking what can I do today ? What can I give today? 'If we all did our duties,' Wasif ended, accompanied by Ali's vociferous nods of approval, 'We'd have no time to demand our rights.'
Respect is something, which comes from within. As a friend's son wisely said, "All the good things in life can't be bought by money, such as happiness, peace, respect, knowledge."
If you respect yourself first, then only will others truly respect you . (Not that other's respect should matter that much, for the world is fickle).
And you will only be able to respect yourself if your conscience is clear. When you know you have done your duty, that you have not infringed on other's rights and hurt them or acted wrongly or unjustly. Something to the tune of; "I don't need to fight to prove I'm right , I don't need to be forgiven ."
The concept of dignity of labour lies in the fact that no matter how humble the labour is, it is supposed to lend you dignity and must be done to the best of one's abilities, which leads to inner contentment.
Dignity lies not in the salary package, or worldly prestige and standing. It comes, like self respect and happiness from within , when you are proud of yourself and your efforts to fulfil His Will.
So if you are a driver and it is your duty to wash the car, you'll first perform that duty before demanding a raise, or advance. And just doing one's duty should lead to inner contentment. But most drivers try to shirk their duties, yet demand higher wages, or advances.
Every one wants to begin at the top rung of the ladder, skipping all the lower rungs on the way and missing out on all the learning involved.
Surely, one who starts at the top, without having actually climbed, will not be able to survive long at the top without the support of past experiences and substance. So if you are at a low grade in your employment, don't complain, for life is an overall learning process. Not in the insular way you'd visualise it, in the narrow materialistic way of thinking of how far down I am professionally or financially, but in a broader perspective.
Life means to develop overall as a person and to develop or acquire skills or characteristics which will make you a better, successful person as a whole. Maybe this lower level is to teach you the values of patience, humility, forbearance, self confidence and self reliance and to prepare you for bigger responsibilities ahead.
Coming back to civic sense, its up to each individual to decide how far his actions are harming or benefiting the country, city, his fellow humans. Is he hurting another person by his speech, actions, by violating their rights? Is his car in the way? Is he polluting the air for others etc ?
It is all about self awareness, self appraisal, self criticism and self-redressal to improve oneself. Something which cannot be taught in text books and something which we all, sadly, rarely do.
Comments
Comments are closed.