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Civic Sense

By Fayaz A. Soomro

27 September, 2015
Countercurrents.org

I feel shame, worried, unwired, mentally disturbed, perturbed, confused, amazed and fraught with a number of questions seeking prompt answers, but still unresolved. Day in day out the situation is getting bad to worst leaving no hope for betterment. Despite uncountable bounties and blessings, our environment is murky with unbelievable habits and practices cultivated by people around us. Unfortunately, civic sense is not common in common men.

Simply, civic sense is to create awareness about having a clean surrounding. It encompasses understood norms and values of a society that help it to run smoothly without someone trimming on somebody else’s toes. Civic Sense is all about having consideration for a fellow human being. It means being polite, showing consideration to elderly, women, children and disabled people. It is driving in one’s lane without deviating and honking from one side to another, throwing garbage in dustbins and many other beautiful habits that realize that life is worth living.

It is not a rocket science to learn in laboratories rather it is a socialization process emanating from home to society. What we adopt is being adopted by each child and a child is father of man having good or bad habits. Our society is replete with numerous socio-economic and other issues at various fronts. It is not because of lack of policies or other administrative lapses rather it is our negligence that we have shun injunctions of Islam that remind that “Cleanness will bring near to Allah Almighty”.

If we recall history, it comes to known that there was Indus Valley Civilization’ about 5000 years ago with no scientific aid they maintained a very well drainage system both in the Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa cities. Another fascinating thing about their civic sense is that, none of their hundreds of houses faced the main roads! This was obviously to keep the environment worth living. What a respectable living standard they had! I think it is pity for a living man to learn lesson from a man of die-society!

Is our home, street, city or country clean? Probably the reply will be no and not at all. Behind such poor and apathetic condition, there are many reasons such as burgeoning population, growing rapid industrialization, slums, cattle that roam around freely in city roads, illiterate people, plastic bags, garbage, improper drainage system – all these add to misery.

Despite schools, colleges, universities, literate parents, well-mannered colleagues and good neighbors somehow we are still lacking civic sense. While commuting from beautiful mountains of Murree and Swat to the beaches of Karachi, we face and come across a number of unwanted instances where it is tangibly proved that as a nation we are devoid of civic sense.

There are a number of irritating factors that are reminding of uncommon civic sense among the people. This includes, spoiling the natural places during the summer seasons by throwing littered stuff, making wrong parking without seeing the compulsion of a person in case of emergency, throwing water or food items at the sitting places, smoking at public places before children, careless and chaotic driving is taking its toll every day, yet we continue to buy driving licenses, and put ourselves, our family and our fellow countrymen at grave risk, listening music with high volume speakers which may hurt sleep or peace of public in day or night, making unnecessary rush at the public places whether school, bank, shopping mall, ticket house, cinema, hotel, public park or any nearby street, habit of chewing gums and pan and spiting at various places after eating and consuming the same, mounting the public motors or metro busses or flights by using female compartments, unnecessary debates on political and religious issues triggering moral and social norms by hurting each other, and the list goes on.

This shows that we are collectively away and unaware of etiquettes and social norms. It does not mean that the onus falls upon the municipal corporation or other government agencies, rather it is our moral and ethical duty to keep our environment clean and worth living. Mere blame game will have no permanent panacea of such social evils. The most important and ignorant aspect is that all of us are now so used to adopt such conduct that we neither want change nor put any effort to change the attitude of the masses in toto.

Nowhere in any syllabus in a school or in a daily routing at home is civility part of the program to be instilled in us, it is instead conspicuous by its absence. We never teach the children to treat the neighborhood, the society and public property as something meant to be maintained well. What we are teaching them is just to keep themselves, their things and their homes in order. The society is becoming no main concern. With this attitude, it is no wonder that parks, cinemas, roads are all littered, because they do not belong to anyone. We feel that the municipality is to look after these but, what about our contribution? We only contribute filth wherever we can.

What an irony? We want everything but cannot contribute to the maintenance of anything. This is the standard of our civic sense. In this, the most tragic fact about the whole affair is that we are at no stage of life taught to respect other peoples’ property or public property. It is the educated and the rich who should be the best conducted, contribute maximum to lack of civic sense.

Unfortunately, we are lacking in our collective moral behavior as we do not care for anyone in society. We have become too lazy to show our sympathies and respect which we ought to do. We should be proud of our cultural, religious, social, educational and even more our nation’s civilization. But irrespective of all these factors, we are going backward in our mannerisms and behaviorism. We are portraying bad images for our religious and civilized sense in the world.

Having a highly developed society and culture, we are deprived of our ethical approach. We lack civil sense, and indulge in separatism, racism, vandalism and road rage. We believe that since we pay taxes, we have the right to throw garbage, spit, urinate on roads and it is the government’s duty to clean it! During rains, our roads clog up disrupting everyday life, but still we blame the government for not cleaning the drains, though it is we who throw garbage on roads and into drains, which get clogged. We score a big zero when it comes to civic sense. We have got so irresponsible that we do not bother about health and hygiene. A number of diseases have got birth not because of polluted edible or potable material, but firmly sharing it is because of lack of civic sense. Being civilized is much more than just living in cities, having computers at home or cellphones in our pockets. To be civilized is, above all, to know how to live in peace with our neighbors and peers.

Well-mannered sense demands that one must have a feel for others. One must not be a callous person. One should live without disturbing others whether it is home, school, office, theatre or any other place. No one is born civilized. It’s a struggle and a sense that makes one more civilized and full of good etiquettes. We ought to learn to be a good citizen.

The exigency of time requires that if we really want to enjoy life, then it is essentially right to adopt good customs, norms, values and habits so that we as an individual or collective will earn a tag of good nation. God does not change the fate of a nations, unless it tends to change its fate. As a nation, we are witnessing a number of problems ranging from one level to another, but adopting civic sense, we can mitigate our miseries. There is need to remember that no Alladin’s Charagh will be rubbed to change the situation, rather it is we to be the architect (of) our destiny. In this noble cause, the role of parents, teachers, neighbors, scholars, economists, sociologists, scientists, professors, doctors and last but not the least electronic and print media should play (a positive role) so that we may have a respected and loving life to live in. Allama Iqbal’s concept of Khuddi may be different meaning for different school of thoughts, but to me, he thought of purification of soul and body that is articulated as Khuddi. Islam is time and again focused cleanliness whether individually or collectively. This will promise a lot.

Fayaz A. Soomro
MSMS (HRM), Abasyn University, Islamabad
[email protected]




 

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