What is it it that makes us leave our country and live in another, as second class citizens, for the better part of our lives? I think there are many things. There is the money factor, which needs to be addressed, by everyone. Then for some there is limited exposure in their homeland and they want to enhance their exposure according to their abilities. The availability of reliable social amenities in a developed society is another factor that plays some role. Some come here because they find this society safer than their own.
One important factor that i understand to be of paramount importance in driving people to developed countries is their inability to relate themselves to the cultures of their parent society. Pakistanis for most part of it come to other countries because they, at times, abhor their own culture and society. They look down upon their values and thus try and colour their lives with the values of a foreign land. Many a men i have met who site the reason for leaving the country as the fact that they could not fit into into their own society. A pathetic excuse if you ask me. When someone tells me that he thinks he was a misfit in the very culture that made him a man i am reduced to remorse for the thinking process that person harbors. But the sad fact of life is that most of us Pakistanis think that way.
Now when i look at my reasons for leaving the country i think the same factor plays a bigger role than i ever imagined it would. I think i feel unrelated to my Pakistani culture. I think i dislike my Pakistani culture and thus want to sacrifice my 25 years of learning to equip myself with a more viable culture. I have effectively run away from responsibility and my own value system. But inspite of all this i still want to go back home once I am done learning the good things from this nation. I want to inculcate these good habits into my own society. I still think that i am the society of Pakistani people.
I do not contend the fact that our Pakistani value system is flawed. But it is just as flawed as any other system n the world. it is just that we Pakistanis have forgotten to defend ourselves and given up on mending our collective ways.
But i should not generalize this statement either. Over these past two weeks i have come to know quite a few Pakistanis who actually ache for their homeland. they want to do something for their country and some of them are doing a great service, no doubt. Both doctors and engineers are at the forefront of this wave and they hope to stir some motion in the Pakistani pool. But there are others who are s stagnant as their thought and relieve themselves of the general responsibility by thinking they are the misfits. I pity them and pray to Allah that they re shown the right path.
One important factor that i understand to be of paramount importance in driving people to developed countries is their inability to relate themselves to the cultures of their parent society. Pakistanis for most part of it come to other countries because they, at times, abhor their own culture and society. They look down upon their values and thus try and colour their lives with the values of a foreign land. Many a men i have met who site the reason for leaving the country as the fact that they could not fit into into their own society. A pathetic excuse if you ask me. When someone tells me that he thinks he was a misfit in the very culture that made him a man i am reduced to remorse for the thinking process that person harbors. But the sad fact of life is that most of us Pakistanis think that way.
Now when i look at my reasons for leaving the country i think the same factor plays a bigger role than i ever imagined it would. I think i feel unrelated to my Pakistani culture. I think i dislike my Pakistani culture and thus want to sacrifice my 25 years of learning to equip myself with a more viable culture. I have effectively run away from responsibility and my own value system. But inspite of all this i still want to go back home once I am done learning the good things from this nation. I want to inculcate these good habits into my own society. I still think that i am the society of Pakistani people.
I do not contend the fact that our Pakistani value system is flawed. But it is just as flawed as any other system n the world. it is just that we Pakistanis have forgotten to defend ourselves and given up on mending our collective ways.
But i should not generalize this statement either. Over these past two weeks i have come to know quite a few Pakistanis who actually ache for their homeland. they want to do something for their country and some of them are doing a great service, no doubt. Both doctors and engineers are at the forefront of this wave and they hope to stir some motion in the Pakistani pool. But there are others who are s stagnant as their thought and relieve themselves of the general responsibility by thinking they are the misfits. I pity them and pray to Allah that they re shown the right path.
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