A couple of days ago, while
visiting one of the our site of foreign sponsored construction project where I
have been deputed as project officer, I observed and listened to one of the
labour who kept sharing his grievances and extreme anger with his co-worker
about the poor governance and high inflation rate in the country. When I went
near , he turned towards me and said, “Sahab mulk ke halaat tau dekho, ghareeb
bande ka tau koi haal nahi”(Sir , situation in the country has become so
difficult for a poor man to live in). When he finished with whatever he had to
say, I asked him do u feed your family three times a day? Yes was his reply.
Then I asked him do u have television and fridge at your home? He again said
Yes. Then I asked do you send your children to school? (may it be a government
school) And he kept nodding his head in saying Yes, and even while I was talking
to this indivisual, a person standing by his side uttered slowly, sir he is
having his own motorbike as well. My next question to this person was, did you
have all these facilities when you were still young and your father was the only
earning member. He said his father did not have even a bicycle, neither did they
have television or fridge or other basic commodities at their home. Keeping this
story aside for moment, when we start thinking of our own life and compare it
with the life of our parents , and even we may go further back to think of our
grandparents life and would exactly come to know, where we live a better life
then our parents, our parents lived a better life then our grandparents. When I
was a school going child, we used to have only one bicycle over which three of
our brothers used to go to school and come back. I would take along lunch to
school and my best Kamran Asif would bring two rupees a day and we would
together enjoy lunch as well as some stuff from canteen. My parents bought us a
televion when we would always wish to go to our neighbour’s house to see the
only drama at 8 pm. My father bought us a third generation computer (P3), only
after retiring from air force when he recieved some lumpsum amount. I bought my
first mobile phone when I became university and also earning some money via
tutions.We could only buy a motorbike, that too on instalments, only when I was
about to complete my engineering. Today when I look around at home, having own
house in a capital city, having a car, a motorbike and enjoy almost every
facility that a common or an upper middle class indivisual would wish for. My
friend and I very often share those memorable days when we did not have so much
but we were so very happy with what we had. When I then look around in our
society, I see most of the people or even 100 percent, people have become better
then their previous generations, may they be from any class of the society,
People do have progressed economically, today we don’t find anyone without a
mobile phone, commodities like television, fridge are the necessities of every
house and everyone do possess them. Alsoa person from a lower middle class would
surely be in possession of a motorbike. Well coming over to that indivisual,
where im strongly convinced that life for poor people has become very tough in
this country keeping in view the basic necessities vis-à-vis their high prices,
its important to note that we have also increased our daily needs.Situation at
everyone home is much better in comparison to their previous generationbut needs
increase further. One never gets satisfied with what he has, whereas wishes
don’t have any end. While people are growing better economically, they have left
behind their basic human traits like morality, truthfulness, loyalty,
brotherhood, tolerance. Same attributes are being taught to us in our religion
Islam. Today everyone wants and tries to earn more then what he earned yesterday
but he never tries to become a better human and be satisfied with what he has
been blessed with. A man with a bicycle wants a motorbike, one having motorbike
needs a car, and subsequently the one having a car wants a better car which
hasn’t any limit. Being muslims, we must try to become better humans, in
addition to working round the clock to get better economically as one would not
be remembered by how much rich he was but for how good he was as a human being,
and that is what matters in this world and in the life hereafter.