ROLE OF YOUTH
IN PROMOTION OF CIVIC
SPIRIT AND COURTESY
“Hearts like
doors will open with ease,
to very very little keys;
and don’t
forget that two of these
Are ‘thank you sir’ and ‘if you please”
How beautiful will it be, if this
world becomes peaceful? There are no news of chaos, crimes, losses, accidents
and disappointments. The atmosphere is filled with joy, affection and love.
Every person has a smile on his face. Everyone is a perfect example of
courteousness and humanity… Alas! This is not the world we are living in. This
is not the world that God created for the “Crown of Creations”. It is a place full
of hatred, impatience, anger, crime, enmity, selfishness, betrayal,
insincerity, arrogance and every other evil one can think of.
We often see our elders talking about
courtesy and civic sense. Have we ever thought that what does this mean? The
word “courtesy” is similar to a building, constructed with several different
bricks of civility, politeness, love, civilization, grace, respect, refined
manners, patience, tolerance, sincerity, piousness, good intentions and so on. The
word “Insaan”, (ﺍﻨﺴﺎﻦ) itself means love, affection and goodness. Courtesy is the
base of Islamic ideology. It means “putting up with others”, which enables
different races and classes to settle down together. Courtesy and civility are
the teachings of every religion and every prophet. Even the great prophets were
ordered to act upon the principles of courtesy so that their followers do the
same. Quran says that,
“God loves those who have patience
and tolerance.”
It is stated in Quran that Prophet Mosses was
again and again warned by God for his harsh behavior. Similarly God commanded Prophet
Jacob to have patience and not to cry for his lost son (Prophet Yusuf). Jesus
Christ’s teachings are a great example of courtesy and graciousness. Prophet
Ayub is best known for his patience and fortitude.
Holy Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H.) is the best
practical example of courtesy and civility. His forbearance and forgiveness
made him the greatest reformer of the world. His politeness and tolerance have
no equivalence in the entire world. He (P.B.U.H.) was kind even to his most
bitter enemies. He (P.B.U.H.) disliked arrogance and rigidness. He (P.B.U.H.)
was amiable with animals too. His principle was to be “Polite but firm”. That is why he conquered the savage and
uncivilized Arabs; and then the whole mankind.
Today
the world has become quite advanced, but the fact that courteousness, tolerance
and refined manners are the key to achieve any goal, still stands firm. The people
who accepted this fact and stood by it, got success; there is an Urdu saying,
ﺒﮯﺍﺪﺐ ﺑﮯﻨﺼﻳﺐ ﺒﺎﺍﺪﺐ ﺑﺎﻨﺼﻴﺐ
(Baa-adab baa-naseeb;
Bay-adab bay-naseeb)
Whether it was Aristotle, Socrates, Alexander,
Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Allama Iqbal, Mahatma Gandhi, Churchill, Queen Elizabeth, George
Washington or any great personality; we find courtesy and civility as common
characters in all of them.
Few days ago, I read an essay, “On
saying please”. In this essay the writer has explained the significance of
civility. The theme of the essay is that our harsh and rude behavior can hurt others’
feelings and consequently be harmful for us. On the other hand, if we have
pleasing manners, they can be beneficial for both.
Civic
spirit and courteousness are symbols of a civilized nation. For human
civilization it is must to be chivalrous and for that, we have to be tolerant.
Courtesy opens the door of cordial relations among all the members of the
society. The words like ‘kindly’, ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ curb the class
difference among the people. It makes our lives smoother and sweeter.
Courtesy
and discourtesy both are infectious. It is a chain, which binds everyone in a
circle. Being rude, rough and impolite spreads anger and irritation in a
society. If we encounter incivility in life, most of us become uncouth, causing
harm to the society. Our bad manners poison our general life more than any
other crime. Discourtesy injures the souls and one’s self respect. An injured
body can recover very soon, but the wound of an injured soul never heals and is
usually unforgettable. It is observed that if a boss loses his temper and
insults his subordinate, the subordinate will affront the peon. The peon will
scold his wife and the wife will be angry at her children. The weakest always
becomes a sufferer. On the other hand, courtesy can make a day much brighter.
If your day begins with a pleasant mood, then that would certainly affect your
surroundings in a nice way. Thus good civic sense and courtesy give birth to a
chain of smiles and politeness.
Youth plays the most effective role in
prosperity or downfall of a nation. Today, if we talk about the youth, the
image that comes to our minds is “pathetic”. Why is it so? It is because of
their present condition. The youth of the 21st century may have
become modern and quite realistic, but this is also an undeniable fact that
they have forgotten their ethical and moral values. They have been detracted!
There
used to be a time when the youth paid due respect to their elders. The orders
or recommendations of their elders meant a lot to them. They could not even
think of disobeying or showing arrogance to them. Their elders’ decisions were
considered final. The youngsters offered their seats to the older people. Women
were greatly honored and respected. The children used to run to their parents
on their first call. They never spoke in a high tone in front of their elders.
Youngsters never went out of home without their parents’ permission. Children
entrusted their parents and shared their problems. People were quite tolerant
and generally forgave each other. Education and knowledge were acquired to
refine the moral and ethical values. All this was termed as “courtesy”. Let me
remind the readers that I am talking about the youth only 3 decades earlier.
Things
changed as the time passed, and so did the definition of “courtesy”. Now, in
2008, 60% of the youth has made its “own” ethical codes of life. According to
today’s youth, the practice of courteous manners is a symbol of backwardness
and narrow mindedness. The elderly people are given very little or no respect.
Their suggestions and advices are taken as “interference in the personal
matters” of the youngsters. The young ones are often seen arguing with their
elders. The ideas of the experienced generation are known as old fashioned and
are usually laughed at. Disobedience has become a fashion amongst the youth of
today and those obeying their elders are mocked at. Young people want to keep
their all activities secret. If checked, they become rebellions and get more
attracted towards the bad company. In this way, instead of doing some positive
work, most of them are getting involved in different types of crimes. Today’s
active and energetic youth finds it hard to spare time for their parents, and
even harder to help them. Women are given the status equal to men, well, that
is a great advancement; but at the same time they are disrespected. The
youngsters can hear songs for hours and hours but do not have the patience to
listen to any good advice. Thus, the youth, just to be modern and fashionable,
has forgotten all the moral values and left behind the civic spirit.
Have
we ever pondered upon the point that who is responsible for such a miserable
condition of today’s youth? If we do, then we will understand that it is not
only the youth to be blamed. As a matter of fact, the youth is an inexperienced
generation which follows the path of the experienced people around it. I
briefly introduce here the generation whom our youth is following.
Today,
people are divided into different groups on the basis of their religious
beliefs and politics. On the religious level, the people are divided into
various sects and sub-sects. Every sub-sect has its own mosque and
institutions. In those institutions, the people are not taught how to live a
life according to their religion; instead, they are poisoned against the people
of other sects and in this way innocent people become enemies for no reason. The
political leaders do not tolerate each other. They abuse and dishonor one
another in the assemblies. Common people fight on petite issues. When everyone
is derailed from the chivalrous path, how can we expect the youth to be
civilized? In such a condition the downfall of a state becomes inexorable. All
this shows that we are in a great need to revise the lesson of courteous
behavior and civic spirit. Some people think that tolerance and nice behavior
means weakness, but in fact, it is the courteousness and self control which
makes a person strong.
Our
youth must prepare itself for the challenges of future. Right now, it is in a
state of confusion due to political uncertainty and growing financial problems.
Strong determination and patience is required to put the youth back
on track. Our youth should show the best of its character in every
field of life. It should try to forgive others and move ahead. Youth is the age
when we feel like having the power of hooking the world on a small jack. We
have high ambitions, courage and strong determinations to accept the challenges
and face the difficulties. We should improve our own behavior. We should make ourselves
wise enough to smile even in the darkest hour of life because
“Smiles are passports through the
desert.”
Now
the question arises that how can we bring change in the human behavior? This is
quite obvious that it can be done by practice of courtesy. That is the only way
to change the immature thinking of the inexperienced youth. Young people are
always more creative and energetic. A great liability of future construction
lies on the shoulders of youth. They are the future commanders and leaders.
They are the trend makers. So to begin with, we can start the practice of
courtesy and civic spirit from ourselves and, as I mentioned earlier, it will
be automatically transferred to the whole society. We must first differentiate
between right and wrong and convey it to the youth in a polite manner. Here are
a few suggestions for today’s youth:
§ Clear
your thoughts and make your minds sound.
§ Set
the goals and move towards them with firm determination and consistency.
§ Make
best use of your talent, time and energy instead of wasting your life in
unnecessary deeds.
§ Manage
your time.
§ Consult
the experienced people for the problems because there is no short cut to
experience.
§ Try
to find the solution of any problem with peaceful mind.
§ Listen
to the advice of your adults and act upon them (not blindly, but with wisdom).
If the youth follows
the above mentioned rules, I am sure that it will become civilized and
courteous soon (Insha’Allah), because
“It
takes very little effort, to make a big difference.”
So
our youth needs to put some effort to change itself, and its surroundings. I
know that one man cannot change the whole world, but I believe that like the
Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H.) or Gautama Buddha,
“The
light developed in one person can dispel the darkness in many others.”
I
would like to end my essay with this verse
ﺍﻧﺴﺎﻦ ﺒﻧﻧﺎ ﻔﺮﺸﺗﮯ
ﺴﮯ ﺒﮩﺗﺮ ﮨﮯ
ﻤﮕﺭﺍﺲ ﻤﻴﮟ ﭘﮍﺗﻰ ﮨﮯ ﻤﺣﻧﺖ ﺰﻴﺎﺩﮦ
(Farishtay
se behter he Insaan banna
Magar is me parti he mehnat ziyada)
(It is better to be a good human being
than an angel,
but it requires more efforts.)
Written
by:
Namra Nasir Student of F.Sc.1st
year 27/03/09
