Surely we can do better than this

We no longer talk, we shout. We no longer observe but see. We jump to conclusions at the drop of a hat. We have become hypocrites of the worst kind. We buy books to decorate our living rooms and not to read. We are a fiercely divided nation. Jealousy seems to have devoured us. We have lost respect for both our dead and the living. While the rich is becoming richer, the poor is becoming poorer and angrier. We often say what we do not believe in. We make a mistake and we neither apologize nor think much of it. We even try to play tricks with God. We indulge in all sorts of wrong-doings and then indulge in charitable acts of all nature and dimension including saying prayers and even hire people to say prayers for us seeking HIS divine blessings. We are masters in blaming others for our failures and shortcomings. It is politics everywhere, politics in educational institutions, in offices and establishments within the families, on the street corners, between neighbours so on and so forth. We often live beyond our means at both individual and national levels. We are often shy to acknowledge a good deed or a favour done to us. The debilitating culture of fast food has caught up with us. We have totally lost our sense of fair play and justice. Justice has become the exclusive rights of the selected few. We play all sorts of hide- and- seek games with rape victims and their families. We talk of eradicating corruption when prices of essentials are way beyond our incomes and resources. We continually indulge in bluffing one another. Our politics for all practical purposes have lost directions. It is unbelievably poor in all conceivable ways. We have become highly undisciplined. Our traders have, for all practical purposes, become Shylocks. They hike prices at will and quite unjustifiably. Most of doctors and physicians are more into extortionists than healing. Likewise people of the legal profession are no better. Our rulers thrive on jealousy and vengeance. To them people are of secondary considerations as against their family or party interests. To them, they are the best and others who do not toe their lines should be reprimanded or punished. We have miserably failed to distinguish between our friends and our foes. Our youth has lost directions. Discipline to them is an outdated concept. They have become rowdy and advocates of violence. In terms of morality and ethics we are at the lowest rung of the downward swing. We continually engage ourselves in telling lies on the slighted pretext. Our sense of loyalty and commitment has gone down to an alarming level. Our lawmakers are widely perceived to be a major contributor to this deteriorating state of affairs. Most of them, as the people's perception does rightly or wrongly indicate, are not only indulging in all sorts of unlawful acts but also continue to play the role of sycophants, misleading our political leaderships. They, too, for all practical purposes have lost their moral courage to speak the truth. Indeed, it takes two to tango. The leaders too in their turn love to hear that acts like sweet music to their ears. Our leaders and rulers have been caught into the psyche that they are destined to rule for ever. Although it appears that return to sanity is insurmountable, but it is our belief we should be able to overcome all these hurdles and one day we shall be able to turn our country into a nation that we can be proud of. Let us try for a change to guide our political leaders to be people-oriented. Surely our businessmen, too, love this country. They should for a change be imbibed with that special spirit of patriotism, let them supplement the efforts of the administration and be friends of the poor. Surely for sometime until we achieve a level of sustenance. Like the business houses of our neighbour India, our well-to-do and the business community should come forward and build hospitals for the poor. Free educational centers for the children of those who literally live below poverty line, sleeping under open skies, on foot paths and under the trees. On the part of the government, it is our observation that its priorities are wrongly fixed. All it needs to do is to realign its focus and allow its interventions to be free from partisan considerations which by now have become ever so glaring. The ruling party should, without any further loss of time, come out from the shackles of the sycophants. This business of rapes could be contained by bringing the culprits and their co-hoots through exemplary punishments. Faces of these people are known to every one, they are let off the hook with little or no punishment. Who is protecting them and why? All we need is plain honesty of purpose and commitment on the part of administration, is that too difficult? If the country is to have a future, we must also be able to distinguish between our foes and friends. Surely we do not wish to see this country become an Iraq, or a Pakistan or an Afghanistan. We should thus stand erect and strong; realign our policies keeping long-term interests of the country in view. We should be careful in choosing our friends. Compulsions may be there to make exceptions due to geopolitical and economic reasons but we need not be a complete sell out. For this we also need to be clean of hearts and minds and rise above partisan considerations Epilogue: Cricket extravaganza will certainly go a long way in letting people readily identify Bangladesh on the world map but Bangladesh should be and can be more than that. To that extent the coming five years or so is extremely vital. Our rulers and political leaders must join their heads together and work together rising above narrow partisan interests. This country does not belong to Awami League (AL), Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) or the Jatiyo Party (JP); it belongs to its people. Their welfare should be of prime concern or else we are destined to disintegrate. E-mail: chowdhury.shamsher@yahoo.com