While descending the stairs of a certain office, a man appeared breathing a sigh of relief but at the same time wearing an expression of anguish on his face. A certain work of his had been accomplished and the sigh of relief was for that, while the anguish came from the fact that he had to pay under the desk. The anguish was more lasting, and made for a growing bitterness, as with every walking step he decried the state of affairs and words of denunciation came out of his mouth upon the system. He seemed to forget that his own self had played a part in the events that had transpired. He had watered a cactus and was now recoiling from the prick of it. Realisation of the fact that he was too involved in the act of corruption seemed to be absent from the pages of his mind. Only the other side was to be blamed. Little he knew that it is not the poison that kills but the will to consume it.
Resisting the urges of wrongs plough the barren lands of dissatisfactions along the course of life and sows in them the seeds of bliss which bear the fruits for eternities. As it is said, you don’t have to blame the water for being deep for your lack of ability to swim. The sea of life has in it the strongest tempests which sometimes even challenge the ability to exist, but it depends on how strongly you manoeuvre your boat rather than worrying about the intensity of the tempest. A high level of human intellect is achieved by the quest for it. The way ahead is made by walking through the rough paths rather than by blaming the stones in the way that stop you from doing so. At the time of dusk, a drowning sun should make a flare rise from one’s grey matter. The roots of a disease have to be cut, rather than rebuking the branches for their growth. A contradistinction arises between what we really want and what actually goes on within us. Wine or Zam-Zam, the zest of throats matters.
A proper spiritual rope has to be spread out and given to each palm. Galvanising the core with a coat of “essence of existence” will reduce the harmful effect of materialistic poison. The jeopardy of social, economic or religious evil needs an approach of avoiding it before its actual commencement rather than trying to tackle its aftermath. This is where every field of education requires a moral and religious bent to it. It has to place a seed in the very conscience. Opening of liquor outlets should be a secondary cause of our concern, the primary being the willingness towards them. Although a firm response to the random growth of these outlets is very necessary, but deep down we know that this response is a weak one. The time demands from us immediate and concrete measures for eradication of the influence of alcohol, drugs and addiction from within our society and replace it with the influence of spiritual and religious values. This has to be done before the era of social triplet begins, wherein one party opposes, one supports, and one merely watches – the third here being the state, of course.
With the engulfing spread of these virtual peace-givers, be it alcohol or drugs or whatever, the opposing group will decline in time and society will be driven into complete disorder. With its wagging tail, it will also take religious and spiritual values down with it. If not removed at this hour, these apparent mufflers (alcohol, drugs, smoking) which provide a sense of warmth will turn into the hangman’s knot.

—The writer has a degree in Civil Engineering and is currently pursuing a Masters in History. [email protected]

Mohammad Mutahhar Hussain