Resilience is the ability to get back into shape from a difficulty or hard time. No matter how densely we have been through thick and thin, despair and forlornness have never been our traits as a nation. There have been the darkest of times, but we emerged from those disappointments with flying colours. That makes us an absolutely resilient nation, and there could be no doubt about that.But we are not a persistently consistent nation. If only we could match our resilience with persistence, we would be one of the strongest nations in the world. It is the art of resilience that we need to perfect with the science of persistence.
We have been tested as a nation several times in the lifespan of our country. We faced a war in the very next year of our birth, and we survived it. We fought another one in 1965; we not only survived it but also made the enemy bear a heavy price. We were amputated in 197.It was assumed Pakistan would crumble down. We survived that too. There were secret wars, conspiracies, insurgencies and attempts of international diplomatic isolation, but each time we survived and came out as victors.
It is our resilience as anation that we must take pride in; it is our national characteristic.What is missing is our persistence to remain attachedto what we believe in, what we truly are and how to garner our resilience to all possible synergised levels.
The mega tests that come and go are managed in an intentional manner. What is interesting is the inadvertent management of day-to-day crises that build up our resilient nature as a nation. Therecent cataclysmic weather wave in Balochistan was the worst of its type, not seen for thirty years. The national highways were frozen and blocked at significant locations. The temperatures fell to killing low degrees, especially at night, with travellers stuck on main highways and disconnected from rescue and respite. In such circumstances, PDMA performed a herculean job. One would imagine it was the sophisticated technological machinery and equipment that helped PDMA manage the disasteror it was an impeccable institutional arrangement like in the west that came to rescue, but in reality, it was neither.
We diagnose our ailment as socio-economic and political instability whereas in reality it is persistence
There were two elements that made the PDMA operations successful in Balochistan. One was the charismatic leadership of the young and competent director general; his work must be appreciated. The second was the volunteerism of Suleman Khan, a traveller in an SUV who rescued hundreds of people.
However, there was one commonality in the two episodes of rescue and survival and that was resilience.If we do a mapping scope of our civil institutions, we will reachthe conclusion that it is resilience that helps to continue our day-to-day existence.
Society is a mirror. Appreciation is a positive social energy that gives people recognition in a society. As human beings, we want to be pointed out and recognised for our deeds. A society that only showsits villains continuously negates its heroes.Some people are even motivated to commit a crime as that would bring them recognition.
If there is a constant glorification of the heroes of society, humanity would be beautiful. As a society, and as individuals, we have completely surrendered the positive energy of appreciating our own good, which has rendered usto negative social isolations. That shutsour intellect down and we stop praising our attributes, such as that of resilience.
We are so resilient as a nation that we withstood the practical extinction attempts. At the same time, we are a nation that is not developing in any positive manner.
Despite the presence of such acute positivity in our inner selves and such coherence in our mental approach, we are not living up to our aspirations. Resilience alone is not enough to take us to the other part of the river; it is the ability of persistence thatlack. Persistence would help us to keep ourselves together, on the track of visionary clarity, focusing on the agenda, and not detracting from the national course of action.
Our economic, political and social policies have been resilient enough to be requested for access by South Korea but not persistent enough to be followed by us. Resilience is but short-lived when it is not combined with persistence. We diagnose our ailment as socio-economic and political instability whereas in reality it is persistence.
The writer is a Quetta-based civil servant