ISLAMABAD – Our Elderly Correspondent: Speaking at the annual conference of the National Elders Forum (NEF), the nation’s elders restated their fears – like last year, and the year before that – that the nation’s crucial respect-for-elders reserves are at an all time low.
“If we look at the secular trend – the term secular as it is understood in the field of statistics – every year is an all-time low,” said Syed Mughees Haider, national convenor of the NEF. “I strongly suspect this is because of the secular trend – here, the term secular as it is understood generally.”
“Being polite to elders and getting up to offer them seats on buses are all half-assed measures, indicative of the low standards that we have brought ourselves down to,” said Ishtiaq Ahmed, finance secretary, NEF. “Respect is only complete submission. Anything other than that is the same as nothing at all.”
Speaking to Khabristan Today, Professor Emeritus Sagheer Ahmed of the QAU anthropology department said that the problem is pervasive. Author of the book “So Now You Will Teach Me?: How to put them in their place”, Professor Ahmed tracks down several key factors that have led to such a massive depletion.
“The loss of monopoly by PTV, the spread of rock music, the proliferation of the internet, the declassification of the Hamoodur Rahman Commission report and the entry of female students in technical fields like engineering have all played a role in destroying the way things were,” the 82-year-old added.
The annual conference ended with a fund-raising drive through the sale of t-shirts and coffee mugs bearing messages like, “Jitni tumhari umar hai, utna mera experience hai,”, “I was in uniform when you were still in liquid form,” “Volume neechay karo!” and others.
