A bird, brought out of the cage: now it’s time to take the cage out from the bird’s heart.

We have been told that we are independent, living in an independent state where the constituent units are autonomous and sovereign. We live in a country where there is an equity of rights between the minorities and majority; we live in a country where the state provides quality education to everyone living to grow. We live in a country where development and research is encouraged and it is the first one to play its part when the world faces a pandemic by making a vaccine. We live in a country that provides justice promptly to its citizens. We live in a country where there is no room for religious extremism and racism. However, there is so much to add in it because lies outpace the truth, and eventually we need to realize that what is reality and what should be your individual responsibility to fix it up.

Today marks the day of resolution for Pakistan and a republic day. The day when the leaders passed a resolution to take out the majority of Muslims who were being treated as subordinates of Hindus and British and facing the ultimate form of racism. This day laid the foundation of an independent country where we can breathe freely. Is it just enough to feel free to do our chores or there is an underlying ideology that needs to be understood in the first place? The ideology is left far behind and we have moved away from it.

We still think that we are independent by having a country that gives us so much and we pay tribute to it by celebrating a holiday that’s it! Freedom does not come from extravagant forces it comes with liberation and liberation comes within. Feel yourself independent when you don’t in gulp the property of the weak.  Feel independent when you don’t indulge in corrupt activities even if you have the finest opportunity to do that. Feel independent when you try to become the voice of minority. Feel independent when someone try to assassinate someone and you as an eye-witness don’t vanish from the spot. Feel independent when you are not one of those who become a victim of religious extremism. Feel independent when you don’t support the feudal culture and you help out those who are being captured by their atrocity. Feel liberated to not choose those for your state who fulfil their personal gains from being in power.

I believe people are the product of their ancestors and our history is full of oblations of our predecessors for getting a state where they can function freely and not likely the formers they left for the sake of their truer independence. We need to reflect back and rejuvenate the idea of being independent. Truer independence and freedom can only exist in doing what is right and not what is acceptable. Be a number one in the community in which you are living by doing something extra ordinary for others even if it feels odd to you because you need to be odd to be number one. Do what is in your power for the people around you if you are privilege enough to do that. Try to educate the less fortunate. Try to build your own small business to play a part in the economy let the rim of the money circulate. Do not hoard products when there is dire need of them. Get out of your intellectual discrepancies and do something voluntarily for your country. Encourage those who have the capability to shape your country’s fate.

Pakistan is one of those countries which is rich in its agriculture and mineral resources and British used to call it a sparrow of gold. Let not ruin this sparrow of gold by not taking care of it and its ideology. It’s the time to get out of the cages of your heart. Soar high in the right direction to let your country reach among the first world countries. Take one step at a time and see the changing fate of this beloved country. A new resolution needs to be made to be true, loyal and honest to your foundations and ideology.

AUTHOR: HIRA ARSHAD