Voting to Make A Difference

More than three decades since our independence – but do we really feel that liberation has got us anything more than corruption, misuse of power, and poverty – is this why people gave their lives for: to be the number one on the list of corruption? The trend has always remained the same, only time has changed: every five years, we choose among our so called politicians, to rule our nation – knowing none of them would make any distinction. Now the time has come, that we question ourselves, for how long do we accept this and pretend as if there was nothing we could do. The easiest way we see to face these issues, is by simply ignoring it – and when that fails, we just effortlessly blame it on someone; after all, seems like democracy to us means the people are “free” to choose the person who will get the blame – and that’s all what the freedom is worth today.

Choosing the right leader is never easy – this is true for two kinds of situations: either you have too many good people to choose from, or you simply haven’t got any – in our case of course, miserably, it’s the later one. Our election process (or whatever you may call it) is simply based on the mere fact of “Lack of Options”. We have developed among ourselves this new method of evaluation, by calculating in the scale of being awful, figuring out who has the lowest score and choosing accordingly. Or we could also vote for the man who promises the least; he’ll be the least disappointing after all. We are frustrated, tired, and hopeless – yet we ourselves don’t want to change the condition of our lives: ask anyone to make a difference, instead of coming forward – s/he might just go two steps back. In our country elections are won by men and women primarily not because most people vote for somebody, rather than the fact they vote against somebody. These days we’re so used to finding wrong people at the wrong place that we find ourselves to be privileged to see something the way it’s supposed to be in a democratic country. In a few months, the new election is on its way: does it mean a new optimism; would it make a difference, would it bring our pride back that we have lost in these thirty years? The fact is not about being number one in corruption – even if we’re number two, three or four – does that change things for us? Mostly when you ask questions like these: you’ll be faced with a long silence, a deep sigh or deliberate avoidance, unless you’re asking it to one of our politicians – then, well it’s a different story that we wouldn’t want to comment on. Our politicians counsel us that little men should not take big ones too seriously, then again – just when exactly did they think of being big themselves: yes, through our (little men’s) votes? But it doesn’t end there; you also have all these friends and families of politicians, who even were no way around being elected, easily uses powers to their own benefit at every step we can think of – “Corruption” is too good a word to define these kinds of people.

Given the fact that none of us (the good guys) from the public are going to get their places, well at least not anytime soon: what is the best choice we got. No, let’s not go directly to Martial Law – it’s sort of a very crude way of making things right, almost forcefully – and doesn’t boast human values. Here’s something from my point of view: how about a new formed alliance: “The League of Good People”? No, not with that clichéd title though – but the idea is essentially like that: we pick up the good guys, who are neutral, modest, and sincere and also have had the experience of governing a nation. We could stop thinking of people from our political parties – there is this other group, who has made the difference, even if that was for a small period of time. Yes, we’re looking into the roles of Caretaker Government – the nicest people among all that have ever ruled this country. Greatness lies not in being powerful, but in the right use of power. Considering the fact of how many times did we have these people around: Thrice – and we had around at least fifteen honest, reliable, righteous, and experienced minds each time. If we choose the best ten from each of those three groups we still have thirty noble man, who has proven their honesty, sincerity and credibility – even if that was for a small course of time. We could make these people our Government, at least for a couple of years – to clean all the sickness of corruption and dirty politics. We have tried all our other options, we voted all the parties (some more than once) – and only difference we found was, in course of time they only get worse. Why not give this proven group a chance – after all, it can’t get worse than choosing the same old parties again right? I do agree there are many of us, who also has better ideas than this to solve the issue, and but I really think ideas have no values unless they are shared. We could all help everyone around us, by expressing our own thoughts.

Freedom cost us our lives, but today – thirty years after independence what’s more expensive is to live as a nation of pride. We have poets, writers, designers, painters, philosophers, engineers & architects, programmers, great business minds – even a Noble Prize winner; how can we still question our credibility, how can we still let the world point their fingers at us? I strongly agree with Aristotle that dignity is not about possessing honors, but it’s about deserving them. We love to do something when we are sure of success, but we need the soul to fight – even when we’re sure of losing. There is just no pride in living a life full of accomplishments, if we forgot our people, our nation. Good or bad, however way you define this country, it’s still ours – no matter however much we try to hide it, but that will be the first identity of who we are. It’s more than three decades that we have sat back and did nothing; but we’ve already passed our due date to stand up and make a difference – either we take the right step, or get used to living without our self-esteem.