Living without a memory is equivalent to losing one's humanity. If we were to wake up one fine morning and fail to recognise the house we woke up in, the family members walking around us, the way we went about our business, as well as our friends and foes what kind of life would we be leading from that day onwards! How would we know what errors we have committed in the past. What would be our yardstick to live the ideals that we have been sticking to and how would we then know what virtues to embrace as we had learnt in the past life. What proportion of disaster would it bring upon us.
Amnesia could be a curse. But what about those who have deliberately forgotten their past. People who have lost complete sense of history. Those who do not deem it to be an important teacher nor do they believe in creating one. A day that has been spent gets confined to the annals of the past and no amount of wealth, power and resources can undo the actions undertaken during that period- whether noble or ignoble deeds. Time cannot be turned back and neither the actions undertaken in that duration. Although everything gets recorded whether by historians who commit it to paper and relay it through various mediums for posterity or be it stored in the deep recesses of the minds where it lives forever and gets conveyed in the form of stories we hear from each other.
Man is unwise, he doesn't realise that the seeds he plants today in any walk of life, bears fruit or otherwise. Every action has in it results just like a seed carries the potential to bear fruit. Individuals associated with the arena of politics, specifically, whose lives are meant to be open books for public to read, particularly need to be obsessed with this notion- a burning sense of history. This group has wide and far-reaching effects on the populace. For example, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, remained unwavered when it came to achieving his mission of creating a separate homeland for the Muslims. No amount of cajoling and temptation to become the leader of undivided India lured him towards an alternate path. Nothing rocked his conviction to create Pakistan and we are enjoying the fruit of his awareness of acute sense of history.
People like Charles de Gaulle, Konrad Adenauer, and Winston Churchill operated with fierce objectives and in doing so they were deeply aware of the repercussions each of their words could have had on the world. They monitored their actions; they evaluated carefully how they operated lest it leaves unpalatable messages which get recorded forever. They assessed how the future generations would look at their actions and how they will view them till eternity even after they were gone. This sense of the past, is what formulates the bedrock of civilised nations, which reverberates with rich and inspiring stories for generations to follow.
Unfortunately our political actors lead a miserable life and leave the nation with nothing but regrets and a lamentable state. They are caught in the quagmire of day to day living- one day at a time. This approach is shallow and short lived. People come and play musical chairs in the State Corridors and leave nothing but shameful stories behind them. Mankind's attempts to bury "History" in the cemetery of time has always failed. Nature exhumes and lays bare, all buried history, overtime.
But this trait of possessing a "sense of history" is very deep rooted. It is steeped in one's upbringing. How an individual is raised when they are young impact on one's habits. If the father who is the head of the family does not teach a child to review their actions and its impact on years to come, then the child would grow up without paying heed to how they act. This sense of history with its implications does not extend to politicians alone but it can apply to any one from any facet of life. An ordinary individual, a corporate leader, a student, a housewife, anyone can inculcate this approach in their life. A manager who walks into his office everyday can send a strong message if he heads straight into his room without acknowledging his team members, or whether he mumbles a dry and perfunctory 'hello' or if he greets them warmly each day without fail. Each one of his actions would be viewed in a certain way forever and nothing could change that. This single act becomes synonymous with the identity of the manager whether he wants it or not.
The current day predicament is whether Pakistani politicians are going to rid and elevate themselves from the addiction of momentary living. Will they come out of the myopia of today's quest which ends with the sunset? People who operate on a short leash are deplorable and a menace to the society's progress. It is worth thinking whether the political machinery can be greased with the question that how will my actions today affect the population a decade from now? We have to be mindful that obsession with the sense of history and destiny stems only in those minds, who are enriched by insatiable thirst for reading and knowledge. Ask you next door politician, neighbour, professional manager or your own children, what book they are currently reading -- most likely the answer will chill your emotions. All politicians are honourable with great sense of history but my cloak of respect is not to be found! Sin writes histories, goodness is silent.
(Goethe) (The writer is a banker)