What is change anyway? In my opinion it is a set of some ideal norms and values that we want our society to adapt to. However, the question is, are those ideal values indeed ideal for everyone else out there? Something that I consider a change, might not be a change for you.
Everyday, I see people leaving Pakistan saying they don’t see any change. “Nothing is going to change in here and if anything, this country will go down”, they say. They quote different problems such as terrorism, sectarianism, no merit system, power outages, pervasive corruption, and the attitude of the people to resist any change. They say, those who want change are too few in comparison to those who don’t and those who are plain stupid to understand the beauty of change. They don’t want to waste their lives in here, and hence they leave the country.
They may be right however, when they list all those numerous problems that we face as a country. Their frustration is understandable to that extent. But what I don’t understand is “leaving the country” part. Because, it doesn’t make any sense. Did they think that the change they wanted to see in Pakistan would come by itself? And now as the change they expected to somehow happen, has not happened, they want to leave the country?
Why they fail to understand that if they have an “IDEAL” list of some norms and values for Pakistani society and want the society to adapt itself to them, they can’t just expect this to happen by itself. They will have to work hard for it. Sure, people will resist this change as it is in their very nature to resist any undesirable change. However, if they worked for it with persistence and full dedication, people will accept that change, sooner or later.
It must be realized that there has always been a tussle between change and status quo. Who wins? Well, it depends on two factors, the force of change applied, and the resistance shown by status quo. If the “force of change” was powerful enough to break the force of resistance shown by the status quo, then change comes, otherwise status quo prevails.
No change will come by itself. If we desire a change, we will have to work hard for it and beat any resistance shown against it. And, as for as Pakistan is concerned, whether we can succeed in bringing about any change or not, but one change we must bring in ourselves, we must never give up on Pakistan. This must not be an option. If we succeed in bringing this change, change is what we will have.