The dread of living

Being an old timer, I still like the feel of the morning newspaper in my hands. This marks the beginning of my day.

In the past, with every rising of the sun, much anticipation was associated with reading the newspaper. There was so much happening around, and one was keen to assimilate all that. But sadly, this has been replaced with dread in the current times when not a day passes without publications giving details of some tragedy occurring somewhere, or a terrorist striking one or another part of the country. While the habit nurtured over decades refuses to die and my day still begins with the feel of the newspaper, it does make one think about the changes which have occurred over time, not all of which are inspiring in the least.

This is also a miniscule reflection of the state of our mind which survives from one encounter with fear to the next. There is virtually no respite. This is not how things are shaping in the rest of the world. There is much to celebrate in terms of human achievement in myriad forms, but here in our surroundings, life is marked by a ceaseless struggle to survive the wretchedness that is spread around. Where did we falter? Why have we come to this pass when the enthusiasm of life is replaced with the foreboding of living, when instead of looking forward to tomorrow with a bouquet of dreams, one is absorbed in the fear of suffering another day?

It is the ever-intensifying quotient of human misery that surpasses other debilitating challenges that we confront with unyielding monotony. Reaching the limit of endurance, or crossing over into a domain anchored in sanity, is not an option that strikes us as layer upon layer of further pain is stocked to pour its poison into our lives as our depleting struggle to survive continues to falter. The methods and mechanisms of tyranny are so intertwined that there is no breaking free of the stranglehold which binds us in their clutches.

The harrowing aspect concerning this state is not only the presence of heartless elements to help pile on the misery but also countless scheming faces who pretend to be our friends and our support for survival. So, on the one hand, we suffer the sinister inflictions showered by some and, on the other hand, we also endure the crass and pretentious kindness shown by others. There is no escaping these shackles which have us tied in their hold and no amount of writhing will help us escape the sickening morass of living to suffer the gruesome pain and then living some more to bear the fangs of kindness dripping in blood.

This syndrome survives and prospers more in predominantly lawless societies, and which work by the whims and fancies of the beneficiary elite rather than the script and spirit of the statute book. For life to survive with dignity and for hope to keep inspiring the human struggle for freedom and emancipation, one should break free of both the instruments of oppression and the fangs of kindness. The most important factor is to make out each variety of inflictors for what they stand for and what their intentions are.

It is also an established reality that a society given to subservience and shorn of the urge to resist slips into a spiral of decay and degeneration. Indications are aplenty that our society has been going through such a phase, regressing deeper into the pit with time. There is neither any realisation of the calamity that is befalling us, nor an urge to initiate a discernible level of pragmatic effort to come out of it. Completely oblivious of the need to look inward to make an objective evaluation of the causes of such stark failure, life is accepted more as a fait accompli, something that one has to live with, one has to endure.

Smitten with the twin scourge of grandiose ambitions and an unfailing infatuation with self-righteousness, one forgets where to start and how to move on. The basic equation being deeply flawed, the path chosen to get to the other end is strewn with potholes that would certainly block every semblance of progress. Introspection is an ability that has evaded our thinking as the finger is pointed outward, looking to create a fictional alibi for failures which are always the outcome of a lack of pragmatic planning coupled with paucity of effort.

But then, the prime responsibility for not falling prey to espousing victimhood rests with us. We can’t always pin the blame of our failures on outside forces. To remedy this malady, we must learn the art of looking inward at our shortcomings and taking meaningful steps to fill the yawning holes left unattended, which continue to multiply with time. This would not come by easily. This would require a basic change of approach in our thinking and the effort that will spur it. We will have to come down from the pedestal of invincibility that we have hoisted ourselves on and start acting like the fallible mortals we are. We must begin with a reality check of where we are and where we want to be over a certain period.

Like I said earlier, there is much that we need to do by way of taking corrective measures to break free of the clutches of tyranny and oppression. An environment denuded of rights and freedoms creates a choking feeling. Instead of getting used to living with it, we should learn the art of peaceful resistance to make the perpetrators realise the inevitable failure of their efforts to keep people captive and put chains on their thinking faculties.

Humans without recourse to using their inherent abilities would degenerate into distantly regulated skeletons. That is what we are gradually morphing into. That should not be allowed to happen because, for one, it would not be in sync with the natural formulation of things; and, two, it would not contribute to carrying forth the gift of life that we have been so benevolently bestowed with.

Life is an immeasurable treasure. It must be lived with all its inherent beauty. It cannot survive if our voice is taken away, or our ability to see, feel and act is choked. Life should be lived in its entirety and the core responsibility to make that happen rests with us, with how we think and what we do.

Let’s not suffer the dread of living. Let’s celebrate it by rising in unison to preserve and promote the treasure of life with its unmistakable scent of rights and freedoms.

The writer is a political and security strategist and the founder of the Regional Peace Institute. He is a former special assistant to former PM Imran Khan and heads the PTI’s policy think-tank. He tweets @RaoofHasan