Adil Najam
From all of us at Pakistaniat.com, and on behalf of all our readers too, we wish the young girl in this photograph a wonderful New Year and a prosperous and peaceful 2010.
Her future is our own.
As she stares at the camera, and indeed at us, her eyes capture a sentiment that is also our own. A sense of fear, but also one of resolve. One cannot know what she was thinking as this photograph was taken. But in looking at this photograph on this new year’s day, 2010, one cannot help think about the future and what it may hold for her, and for all of us. On this new year’s day, let us understand that – for good or for bad – our future will be what we ourselves will make of it.
The grand schemes of history and its attendant forces certainly structure the choices that we confront, but let us never forget that it is we ourselves who have to make the choices, no matter how tough the choices may be. The weaker and more fragmented we are ourselves, the more vulnerable we will be to the forces outside our control. It can be comforting to pass the blame to others, but even when there is much justification in doing so, it is not very useful unless we ourselves are willing to make the right choices.
Making those right choices – often tough choices – is our responsibility and no one else’s. It is our responsibility to history, to ourselves, and to the young girl in this photograph.
Let us make no mistake, our future is our own. And so is this girl’s.
P.S. This year, like in the year before, we have again chosen a photograph by one of our favorite Pakistani photographers, Umair Ghani (here, here, here, here).
Ideas are important in the lives of nations. Action, of course, is more important; but action without ideas is dangerous and actions based on the wrong ideas can be disastrous. ATP 2007
Justice. The root of my name, Adil, is ‘Adl’ (meaning justice). I take my name seriously. I take justice even more seriously. You cannot have a good society until you have a society that is ‘just’ in every dimension of that word. I wish 2008 will see the restoration of the Judiciary, but I wish for deeper manifestations of economic and social justice too. ATP 2008
The weaker and more fragmented we are ourselves, the more vulnerable we will be to the forces outside our control. It can be comforting to pass the blame to others, but even when there is much justification in doing so, it is not very useful unless we ourselves are willing to make the right choices. ATP 2009
Words.
Good words.
Wisdom infused words.
What glorious and moving words are planned for 2011 if GOP does not appoint 10,000 new judges?
1,000 new judges?
100 new judges?
10 new judges?
1 new judge?
I have the audacity of hope with fierece urgency of now!
Hum dekay gay.
Excellen post to start the year with. May we be able to mould our future to a better direction.
New Year Greetings to ATP team and all Pakistani friends.
Your words ring true.
Until we realize that our present and our future is our own and we have to take responsibility for making our own future better, things will only go from bad to worse.
Since some of you have asked, the picture in this post is from Umair Ghani – a fisherman’s daughter on the banks of the Indus River.
Thank you for posting this picture so we can feel good for few minutes. Offcource it warms the heart and fill the eyes with tears.
But after few minutes, we will go doing what we do, busy with our lives and ignoring everything else around us. These girls we see everyday but we don’t give a shit about them. Oh but on these pictures – Such hopeful eyes, hope for us, this is pakkistan…
Please put these pictures more often, it will bring more traffic to the blogs and it make us feel good without doing anything.
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