Alvin Toffler’s observation that “the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn”. It captures perfectly the challenges faced by Pakistanis everywhere in the fields of education, specific job skills and the culture of workplace learning and training. I was on a personal trip to Karachi in December 2018, where I happened to meet my mentor, teacher and the most influential person in my life, Ziyad Awan. Our discussion had never as profound in the last 12 years as it was this time; we talked about guilt, love, marriage, hypocrisy, career, books, spiritualism, relationships, sex, education, leadership, social impact of academic research, consciousness, wellbeing, success and religion.
This short meet up forced me to think of life with a different perspective, beyond the conventional concepts of earning success, fame and money in this world which are sadly considered factors behind self-actualization in the corporate culture. Life has a wider objective, unlimited scope and never ending meaning for those who really want to go an extra mile to explore and leave their mark after their death as Robert Frost said ” The woods are lovely, dark & deep but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep”.
Life has a wider objective, unlimited scope and never ending meaning for those who really want to go an extra mile to explore and leave their mark after their death as Robert Frost said ” The woods are lovely, dark & deep but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep”
While living in a drastically changing world under the sharp impact of information communication technologies wherein social media has democratized communication and relationships, it is important to pause and reflect for a moment and think about what are we running after? Is it the real source of our self-satisfaction and inner peace? This question will certainly lead you to have a pragmatic approach towards life or it may break your illusions, we all have illusions. There is no doubt that majority of us are not ready to follow the process and experience hurdles in the pursuit of education, career, relationships and success; as Simon Sinek tagged millennials as ” weak generation’ and the Pakistani literary legend Bano Qudsia called them intrinsically fragile individuals un-prepared, un-equipped, un-skillful and unable to cope with hard phases of life. Resultantly, we can see a rapid increase in depression, anxiety, break-ups, social disintegration, intellectual suffocation, lack of self-confidence, low productivity, intolerance and last but not the least, suicides among young students and mid-career professionals in Pakistan.
The list of causes behind the prevailing situation may get too long but I want to draw your attention towards the consequences we as a nation will face in the future if we don’t change this narrative with the help of practical measures by motivating our people, our youth towards creating a human world instead of turning this country into an island of human loneliness, toxic relationships, materialistic success, useless education and fake identities. Parents, colleges, universities, corporate organizations and socio-economic environment plays a significant role in building our self-image and perceptions about life.
One of the biggest flaws in our parenting now a days is that we start making our children feel like they are the most special and unique individuals on this planet, ultimately depriving them of the chance to learn, unlearn, relearn, and help others.
The society and environment around is toxic and it is hard for us to even speak nicely when something goes wrong with us, or appreciate and compliment those who look good or doing well. Without knowing what is going on in someone’s life, we form opinions, build our self-created judgements and label people. This question must hurt you too as it hurts me now a days as I see where the society is leading us all. The role of 183 universities imparting quality education and doing cutting edge research is a questionable unless they introduce better social, scientific and institutional reforms which have the power to address core national issues.
Let’s be honest, every one of us wants to be liked and accepted in our surroundings. As a result, we feel as though we are continuously entitled to feel comfortable, beautiful, satisfied and happy at all times; that’s when life screws us, our friends exploit us, our partners cheat on us, our organizations bury and abandon us. However, unlearning this attitude can work better for us as Mark Manson said, failure would be less terrifying, rejection less painful, unpleasant necessities and more pleasant, if we could only give some attention to our weak side. As we go into 2019, we should all try to make this one of our resolutions.
Published in Daily Times, January 24th 2019.