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