t is the evening of August 14, as I begin to write this. I’ve just spent three hours on the road unsuccessfully trying to reach the Golf Club. The road was blocked. It is the same drill, every Independence Day.

There were people breaking rules on all sides of my car, giving me with a mild dose of claustrophobia. My sister innocently asked my mother why some people were getting out of the cars. My mother explained how those people had volunteered to pull the rest of us out of the traffic jam.

I looked around and thought how it was possible for me to see those breaking the rules and be filled with rage. It is also possible to see those helping out and be filled with love. It’s a matter of choice. Today I left home having decided not to honk my car’s horn at my fellow country-people.

I saw posters of Arshad Nadeem placed by the Punjab government. I thought about the common social media complaint about how everyone is taking credit for his achievement following a drought of prior support, some going as far as to suggest that this win isn’t for the country that let him down, that it belongs solely to him.

I thought about how Arshad Nadeem had begged to differ. In every statement since he bagged the gold at the Paris Olympics, he had spoken about his elation at being able to represent Pakistan and to have had the privilege to raise her flag. Who, then, are the people online to deny him his right? Do they believe Arshad Nadeem is less informed than them or is it that they want him to partner with them in their abandonment of Pakistan?

Arshad Nadeem was an underdog; a sentiment Pakistan has always loved. To know that the Junoon hit Hai Jazba Junoon’s vocals were recorded in a bathroom with Ali Azmat sweating throughout is to know that all Pakistanis have had to beat the odds. To know the history of Pakistan is also to know that it is made up of heroes who took it upon themselves to represent a different Pakistan than the one they had. They embodied that dream. That is why Arshad Nadeem is talking about making things better for his native Mian Channu. That is the spirit this country was born with — to embody the dream and move it forward with courage, despite what we have in front of us.

This is the “azm-i-aali shaan” in our nation’s anthem that we’ve sung in school for years, and that Arshad Nadeem made the French play a few days ago.

If you are not happy with the Pakistan you have, become a different one. As I sit reflecting on this, I think about Hania Aslam and I think about Junaid Jamshed. I think about how the Pakistan each of us wants may be different but we share the fact that it is not the one we have. Could it be that we’d negotiate and move it forward? For that we’d have to have a different attitude: joining. Joining one another to make the country change. Pakistan is not an individual person’s vision.

Propaganda constantly changes as regimes change. What seems permanent today may change sooner than we expect. After all, isn’t that what Pakistan is famous for?

We finally broke free of the traffic, and I saw people happy with loud sounds of horns children were carrying. I saw people in absolute bliss on their motorbikes with their families, children holding flags. Their Pakistan was not the Pakistan on my Instagram feed; their Pakistan was forward looking. They looked like the kind of people both I and Arshad Nadeem could partner with.

Uneeb Nasir writes on culture and identity. He can be reached at uneeb.nas@gmail.com