Viktor Frankl was a famous
psychologist. He provided the psychology field with a new powerful paradigm of
studying human behavior. His paradigm is “Will to Meaning”. In his famous book
“Man in search of meaning”, he argued that, no matter how meaningless a
situation appears, there is always a meaning in it for human beings. Man is
powerful enough to create or find meaning in any absurd situation. This
meaningfulness gives a unique courage to face cruelties of life. How Viktor
arrived at this conclusion is an interesting story. He belonged to a Jewish
family and had studied to be a doctor. His family was settled in Germany, when
Second World War broke out, he along with his entire family was imprisoned in
concentrated camps. Where he suffered immense torture and observe inhuman
conditions. His entire family including his wife and children were burned to
ashes in gas chambers in front of his eyes.
He spent countless nights waiting for his turn to be taken to God forsaken gas
chambers. But his turn never came. One night at the height of his fear a simple
little idea relived him of all fears. The simple little idea took hold of his
mind and he was a fearless born again man the next day. The simple idea was “My
fear would not postpone my death”. Afterward he observed that some people walk
into the death chamber with confidence and fearlessness, while most people beg
to be spared and ultimately forced to accept death. Fear or no fear consequences
were same. So why bother fear before the ultimate. We should create a meaning in
brief span of life we have got.
Although this message is very strong and worth following, but there are some
people known as Absurdist philosophers (Sartre, Camus, and Becket) who disagree
and proposed that “his conclusion can only be applicable to the extreme survival
situations”. While in our daily routine life we feel a lot of boredom and
meaninglessness. We try to overcome this boredom by indulging in many
meaningless activities (like watching TV, using social media, taking selfies,
and endless talking with friends etc). In his famous drama “Waiting for Godot”
Samuel Becket tells the story of two men endlessly waiting for a person called
Godoton a deserted highway near the fig tree. Both characters don’t know who
Godotis, why they are waiting for Godot, When Godotwould come, what would
Godotdo, what difference does it make whether Godotcomes or not. Till end
mystery wasn’t solved. Critics differ on what Godotrepresents.
But for we Pakistani Girls Godotrepresent “An upright man”. We girls are waiting
endlessly for his arrival. And if you allow me to say it poetically or
romantically, we girls are waiting for a prince charming on a horseback. (Oh
that’s just a fantasy). But fantasy apart a simple upright/ honest guy who is
faithful is what we need. We don’t need Salman khan or Bradpitt (Although I love
their movies). I regret to say that for most girls their Godotnever comes and
they have to settle for some fat, bald, coarse, unromantic, quarrelsome,
dictating, male chauvinist, misogynist, overage, mom’s boy, and poor man.
Mostly i have observed that when it comes to girls, men are just like hungry
dogs. They treat girls like a piece of meat. When I saw this attitude I say in
my heart, come on guys show some dignity and respect not only to girls but to
your selves. There is no exception of age and background. Ogling, staring,
verbal and physical harassment are second nature of Pakistani men. You can say
its national pastime hobby or game. Don’t think that marriage would reduce their
lust. They usually become more shameless and frequent in their pursuits.
Similar behavior is observed at work place I don’t know why everyone wanted to
be jolly and friendly with girls (Women sound aged). Why can’t men and women
behave in a professional way? It’s a common misperception that we girls are in
search of a groom everywhere. No our professional lives are separate from our
personal life. We need equality and professionalism at work place. We don’t want
beti, baji, behan, bhabi,khala or any other relationship ( We know how much
respect men give to their family women). By doing this they snatch equality
status from us and show natural superiority. And as a staunch feminist I don’t
want any glass sealing at work place.
People! Now consider this entire situation and tell me is it possible to find an
upright man. If yes then how much longer we should wait for our Godot (Read
Upright man).