Thursday, February 21, 2008

The Forgotten Feel by Zufah Ansari

Shame: a negative emotion that combines feelings of dishonor, unworthiness, and embarrassment
Disrespect: to show a lack of respect for somebody or something.

Two negative words are all I can use to describe what I assume when I observe the attitude of my peers when we assemble to recite the anthem. It pains me to say so but this the most accurate illustration I can think of to describe my resentment over the fact that we Have "FORGOTTTEN THE FEEL”, the feeling of pride, the feeling of patriotism.

“Straighten up, the national anthem is about to start.” The usual response I get to that instruction is a loud sarcastic laugh, followed by a smirk from students. Nothing bothers me more than the lack of respect students’ show to the National anthem these days. Standing behind a massive crowd of 600 students, observing the crowd from one end to the other I see young adults who are definitely a valued asset of the country, fidgeting, fixing their “oh so very important hairdo’s”, chatting and laughing precisely at the very moment when they are suppose to be singing the national anthem in unison. While on the other end I see young children of age 8-9, filled with reverence, passion and enthusiasm; singing the national anthem in their true spirits of patriotism although at this very young age the notion of patriotism has not even been instilled in their adolescent minds.

Over the past years I have seen that as students hit their teenage years or reach high school they tend to think that showing respect or singing the national anthem becomes against the norm of being a teenager or makes them look “dorky” among their friends This lax attitude also persists because the students’ minds have been molded to believe that Pakistan is a self destructing nation and showing respect to a bunch of phrase won’t change its situation so it’s easier to disrepute your country than defend its pride. Well I would like to contradict this perception that exists amongst the peers and students in all schools. Lack of respect is just not what our anthem, deserves. The anthem is like a prayer that is taught to us from the day we step in to an institution and even after years of reciting it there are still many ignorant people that have failed to learn it.

The National Anthem is the vivid representation of what should be the core of our responsibility as a citizen of our nation. Letting the respect of our country down ourselves will definitely allow others to disrespect it too and thus I strongly extend my plea to my peers, that give our anthem the due respect it deserves, recite in a dignified manner and nationalism because once the future of Pakistan loses the respect it holds for its country, will be the time when our nation will be lost.

ZUFAH ANSARI
A2C1

14 comments:

Syed Arsal said...

its very true zufa...
we are like dummies and act as if we don't recognize the anthem that is been played to us

this attitude needs to change!

Lamak said...

i couldnt agree more :(
hurts to have people around you making fun and not respecting their own national anthem!

Anonymous said...

thank yew guys..its refreshing to noe dat i'm no the only one who thnks this way! :)

Anonymous said...

u think by not standing straight we are not patriotic? are u kidding me, the basic problem which i fell in our anthem is that we dnt KNOW THE MEANING OF IT.

Anonymous said...

absolutley !...just thnk outside the box for Once...by standing straight i'm not referring to the physical state or ur Posture in other words...by dat phrase i'm referring to the respectful state a person should accomplish while reciting the Anthem...Phelay tareekay say anthem parhan tu seekhlo..matlab tu door ki baat hai!

Anonymous said...

hmm so u mean by just standing striaght not only i am patriotic i will get respect .... absoulute BULLSHIT! . ok leave that, Remeber there was a sports day in our school a week or 2 ago and every parent was invited and when the national antheme played NONE OF THE PARENTS stood up why? telllme ? ok leave standing up they din't even stop talking. and if "i" don't know the meaning wht i am saying how can i respect it , i should just blindly respect that b/c it's my nation song puff...

Unknown said...

when the national anthem was played i stood up i evn saw other parents standing up

Anonymous said...

l0lz
national anthem
when country will give RESPECT to us then we'll give an answer..
In june , when I wnt to paris, some of the people were saying "SHIT MAN, YOU ARE FROM PAKISTAN"
this is our respect in foreign..
so we shud respect our national anthem..?
I am planning to leave pakistan as soon as possible..
now there is no life left in pakistan...
its beset foe us

Anonymous said...

THERE IS NO RESPECT LEFT FOR NATIONAL ANTHEM
YEARS AGO THERE WAS A RESPECT BUT NOT NOW
SOME OF THE STUDENTS AND EVEN PARENTS DON'T KNOW HOW TO RECITE IT
IF PARENTS DON'T KNOW THEN HOW COME STUDENTS ARE GOING TO KNOW THAT..
SOME DAYS AGO, I WAS PASSING THROUGH CITY SCHOOL KASHMIR ROAD BRANCH , A GROUP OF STUDENTS WERE RECITING INDIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM AND WERE SINGING SONGS LAUDLY, BUT WHEN TURN FOR OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM CAME, VOICES PRAISED LOW
THAT'S WHAT WE ARE BEING TAUGHT

SO WHEN THESE STUDENTS GROW UP, THAN THEY DONT BOTHER FOR THEIR COUNTRY OR NATIONAL ANTHEM
AND WE ARE ONE OF THOSE

Anonymous said...

Firstly mister/miss.i specifically mentioned that by Standing straight i was not 'just' refereing to the physical state of a person which i 'm guessing is to difficult for u to understand although its pretty simplified.
Secondly ,Parents at Sports day..they were parents n guardians of 8 to 12 year olds who in my artcle did mention as those who r more aware of the respect their anthem deserves than 17 n 18 yr olds..even though there parents might not Know so and especially if ur a young adult u REALLY REALLY shldn't need ur parents to give u the intiative to respect ur own anthme...for HEAVEN'S SAKE!...really Grow up
thirdly u went to paris n heard that phrase because u were not Man enough to stand up to ur own nationality that is just ..utterly sick...letting some person bash ur country up...
Buss doosree nation's ki parhee hai..yah naheen kay apnay giraybaan mein jhaankh lo ...maybe there, u mite find an answer lol :S

Anonymous said...

Zufah Ansari
ee ik sachi ne achi baat kahi hai
koi bi admi ab seedha khara hone ke lie razi nai hay
qomi tarane ke shoru hote hii log apne tafreoon mae lag jatey hain

aur bhai ya bahen , yeh aap ne ka likha hai,
zara theek se to bataiye
paris mai aap ka izzat uchala gaaya aur aap sehte gaye
sahab ji, hame le jao zara unke paas , ham dein gein moon toor jawab
phr dekhna, tari taraf koi ankh bi nai uthaye ga
ham musalman hai bhai . RASULALLAH [S.A.W.W] ke ummat sa hai hum, hum bhi dikha dega ham kia hai
samja tum

yeh apna qomi tarana ache sa pharo, apne mulk ki izzat karo
aur issi ko aage le chalo
Jeay Pakistan

Anonymous said...

Well Zufah, that's an excellent article by you, I must say. But on the other hand, I disagree with you.

Well, firstly, I admit, I don't like this country. So, the most respect I can give it is by standing straight n quietly while the Anthem is being played.

Reason for not liking this country is that it can't help itself. It's got the potential to be among the best in the world but it seems as if it simply doesn't want to.

Abt the words of the Anthem, there's a phrase saying "Qoum Mulk Saltanat..." I must say that Hafeez Jalandri knew before hand that there's gonna be saltanat in this country so he added that word!!!

Anonymous said...

nice..buh not too nice..............and i assume u respect it very much, right?

Unknown said...

any body have City school's anthem .. if yes den do send me . On Abro_leo@hotmail.com .!!