A few days ago, my mother and I set out for old Lahore. While we were waiting for the food we had ordered, we saw a young fig-seller, around 20 years of age, standing outside a luxury car. The lad had weighed the figs according to the demand of the man sitting in the car and was apparently waiting for them to take the items and pay for them.
The fig-seller kept waiting but the man in the car was busy on his cell phone and did not pay nay heed to the waiting seller. My mother called him to sell us some figs and when he returned, the luxury car had gone without any regard for his wait. This incident made me ponder whether all of us who can afford to get education and luxuries are worthy of being called “civilised”? We acquire education from top class schools and universities, yet fail to imbibe the attributes of civility and humility.
Recent events of brutality that have taken place in our society have greatly saddened me. I think the root of such cruelty lies in the casual callousness that now pervades our fragmenting society. We need to revisit our culture and values to become better as a nation.
MAHEEN HASSAN
Lahore
