By Parvez Jamil
IMAGINE kids waving national flags wowing for Pakistan town after town, city after city and province after province from Karachi to KPK! It echoes a resolve strongest than the steel and higher than the himalayas for the love and care, for sanctity and sacrifice for Pakistan. Come Independence Day August 14, Pakistan’s promising kids chant and dance their hearts out whether the tastefully decorated streets and roads of Karachi, the heart of Pakistan or the bustling and beautifully lit Meenar-e-Pakistan, the essence of Pakistan or the nationally rejuvenating lanes and bi-lanes of Quetta, the spirit of Pakistan or the patriotically public-packed bazaars of Peshawar, the soul of Pakistan in true letter and spirit.
Showering fresh rose petals, illuminating the ambience, decorating homes and streets, chanting national slogans and shining over the national horizon are our blooming kids, aspiring adolescents and spirited youth. It is a national songs galore be it ” Jeeway Jeeway Pakistan, Hum Zinda quam hain, Watan ki mitti gawah rahna, Ye watan humara hai, Jug Jug jeeway mera pyara watan, Chand meri zameen phool mera watan, Ai watan ke sajelay jawano, Aai watan pyare watan, Sohni dharti Allah rakhe” and you name it. With “Itnay bare jeewan sagar mein tu ne Pakistan diya o Ala”, the young nation is all pulsating patriotically amid mesmerizing echoes of Allan Faqir from Karachi to KPK and beyond boundaries during Independence Day celebrations by our Embassies and High Commissions the world over.
Inherent in the hearts, minds and souls of the young nation is the all-purpose enlightening motto of “unity, faith, discipline” as the beacon light of success. Kids indeed sing in chorus and attribute Allama Iqbal our national poet with his prayer “Lab pe aati hai dua ban ke tamanna meri” and his message of inspiration to the young nation “to shaheen hai parwaz hai kam tera, teray samnay aasman aur bhi hain” towards new horizons in life and career excellence.
Here it is beyond hale and hearty rhetorics and rituals that our kids go to implement the spirit of Independence Day by learning in slums and cities such skills, trades, arts and crafts that earn them respectable livelihoods enabling them to stand on their own feet with grace, dignity and honor in the comity of nations. At the formal academic level our students continue to earn value-adding diplomas, degrees, awards, honors and credentials in the social, commercial, physical, biological and technological disciplines home and abroad speaking volumes of their potential second to none blooming in their hearts and souls the songs of Pakistan.
Discovering further the amazing part is unfolding rare positivity of extra-ordinary kids resolve to learn from defeat as signpost to success and take failures as challenges to accept and opportunities to benefit from.
Here are few of the many young Pakistanis who swam against the tides and came out winners. Sumail, at the age of 15, sold his bike so he could enter a gaming tournament where his team achieved second place. Haroon broke the world record by obtaining 87 As in his IGCSE O and A levels. Saad knew from an early age that he wanted to be a Formula 1 racer. With hard work and perseverance he did it. Always an outstanding student, Aaima secured first position and was declared the highest scorer in the University of London External LLB exams.
Such lovely, loveable and beloved kids of the soil humbly, nobly and gently become models of national piety, promise and pride to be emulated by man in the street, men of letters and men at the helm of affairs alike. It is here that the sun continues to shine over the national horizon with all its vim, vigor and vitality towards a better and brighter Pakistan. ###
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With long and strong experience and expertise in educational and media management, the writer contributes to print and social media on national and international affairs.
parvezjamil@hotmail.com