Daily Times

The benign appearing and stationary adversary had taunted me for months. It sprouted up through the soil in front of the picture window where we had recently removed a line of hedges. I was determined to let this unrecognised plant life grow a bit. Nature testifies grand design and scientific lessons make the leap to human logic. The slender stem began to take on the more fibrous appearance of a stalk and small pointed thorns erupted. They provided a miniature spiral staircase to the top of the plant. The leaves took on shades of lush verdant earth speckled with splotchy colours like the fragments of broken clay pots.

The experiment ended this morning. Grabbing a pair of gloves and a trowel, I seated myself adjacent to the terrestrial little devil and began carefully digging my way to the root system. Approximately five minutes later, the prize was held in hand. The base of the root system was milky white, a bulbous mass that reminded me of the sting of the jinn. Pulling it out, I tossed it onto the cement driveway. Taking the wooden handle of the trowel, I energetically hacked away at the root and noted it was as hard as a rock. My brain ponders the findings from my primitive lab. Truth exists in suspension between subjectivity and objectivity. Rich complexities exist between the two. Perception also colours our view. But, at this moment in time, I pondered new truths as expressed through the removal of a lowly weed.

The readership of Daily Times is kind enough to teach me about Pakistan, the basic axiology, and, more importantly, perceptions of the relationship with the US. I have enjoyed dialogue with an officer in one of the branches of your military and, recently, the comment within a thread was thus:

“What the US needs to correct and resurrect are the fundamentals of the US as a giant of knowledge and services, and a return of the basic-principles of becoming a society that takes care of its own moral decay rather than being busy trying to reform tyrants in other countries who have been nurtured by them.”

The man outranks me. I took the dressing down well. But in a ‘permission to speak freely’ environment, made a few impolite snorts back regarding Pakistan and her policies. The above dialogue preceded by mere minutes the death of the lowly weed. So, it seems good to think about weeds today — of the American and Pakistan variety.

The US suffers from a degree of moral decay. It would be simple enough to attribute it to an era of post-Christian modernity. The real answer is actually mundane: man is prone to be bad and must learn self-control and develop character to be ‘good’. Surely Pakistanis are none the better in this regard. American citizens merely look worse because our naughtiest citizens run to Hollywood. They entertain themselves, concocting mythical tales. If the majority of our women were ‘Desperate Housewives’, our poor husbands would never get a cooked meal.

Our second naughtiest citizens gravitate to Congress. They do not start out that way, of course. Intentions are always good at the beginning of any grand quest. Newly elected members park their suitcases inside the Beltway with a challenging gaze. They are carried along with the confidence bequeathed by the recent slate of sheep — uh, voters — who punch the ballot beside their name. “We the people” elect them to office the first time. But special interest groups and subterranean trolls of the political action committees (many of them former congressmen) begin to grace their doors once there is a chirpy voice to answer the phone. The Centre for Responsive Politics compiles annual data and it is interesting indeed. Voila! Fait accompli! Corruption is always dusted with gold.

The religion of the powerful is not ‘Christianity’, ‘fundamentalism’ or ‘liberalism’. The common bond is not intellectualism, socioeconomic background or education. The religion of the powerful is power. It is hard to go back to Kansas after walking the yellow brick road.

Luckily, our checks and balances serve us well. In the recent case of a congressional exhibitionist photographing himself from stem to stern, decent folks and embarrassed colleagues made demands. Representative Anthony Weiner resigned and I certainly hope that he picked up his towel when he left town with his companionable Twitter account.

Americans live an average existence. We number 311 million in strength. We remain a melting pot of humanity. The pull to wallow in vast seas of corruption is not that great. We are busy working and raising our families. We toil for approximately one-half of each year to feed the beast (taxes). This revenue provides for paved roads, adequate electricity and potable water. Our communities sport public libraries and parks. At the dinner table many of us still bow our heads in prayer. The real face of the US has soft features.

Regarding reformation of nurtured tyrants, I have not a clue. Can a well-fed carnivore be cajoled onto a vegetarian diet? But that brings me back to the topic of weeds.

None of us offers to weed the garden of a neighbour. It is too tedious a task. We are responsible for our own weeds. I allowed the solitary weed to remain for too long. What if it multiplied by the thousands? Each weed must be tackled by the nearest willing hand. The US has a few weeds. Pakistan has a few weeds. But the key is good governance. Carefully crafted and workable policy provides the administrative trowel.

Regarding the human frame, Americans and Pakistanis are bipedal mammals. What makes us unique is how our thoughts dance with the reflective mirrors of our ethnography and history within our minds. Nearly seven billion humans roam the planet now. But, somehow, the US and Pakistan must begin to cast the reflection from our mirrors back and forth in a better manner. Teach me what is important to you and I will return your thoughts, with a smile.

The writer is a freelance columnist. She can be reached at tammyswof@msn.com