OUT OF THE ASHES, WE WILL RISE AGAIN

By Farkhanda Qaiser

This was a debate i wrote and performed in an Interclass competition held in March 2011 in KEMU, Lahore.

Ever seen the phoenix after it goes to ashes?

The bright gold colors turn to coal black representing the end of a golden era…And you think,

“alas, the poor soul is finished.”

But just when you’re about to turn your back on those ashes, you notice a change,

A flicker of flame in those ashes,

A sign of life,

And VIOLA,

Ashes turn to flames,

Flames to flickering wings,

And finally, a whole new phoenix is born!

That is exactly what we are going to talk about today,

OUT OF THE ASHES, WE WILL RISE AGAIN….!

A similar phoenix-like condition was witnessed half a century ago,

On the dawn of 6^th August 1945, Hiroshima was awakening slowly to a beautiful morning, unaware of the horrors that lay ahead.

At around 8:14 AM, a single bomb dropped by a single airplane changed the destinies of thousands of people…!

Houses were reduced to rubble…!

Cars were blown away like balls of cotton…!

Human flesh and bones were scattered like fireworks…!

And the sky which was a pleasant blue seconds before was now filled with a huge white mushroom cloud that enveloped the entire city…!

Intense heat and light radiated from it…!

Such was the extent of the atomic bomb that it was believed nothing would grow on the soil of Hiroshima for another 70 years…!

However, Hiroshima did not die…!

Soon, makeshift huts made of wood appeared in the chaared rubble and black markets sprang up in front of train stations. This was the start of recovery.

And now, Japan is the 3^rd biggest economy in the world.

Proving What?

Proving that it rose out of the ashes of ‘little boy’ and ‘fat man.’

Now let’s travel a few thousand miles to the west. And a few decades back into history.

The downtrodden muslims of the subcontinent living like beggars in their own country…

Not having a voice of their own…

So illiterate as would shame their highly educated ancestors…

And yet a man arose from those very muslims who was a true leader…

Who was saluted by the greatest leaders of the world…

Yes none other than Quaid e Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah…

He united all the scattered Muslims under one flag and gave them a reason to live…

A reason to breathe…

And a reason to die for…

Pakistan..!

Then the world saw how those very downtrodden Muslims rose from the depths of despair to fight for a separate state of their own…

And they succeeded…

Today, we breathe in fresh air because of those people who sacrificed their lives for us, their families, their homes, infact everything they had!

Why?

Only so that we could have a country to call our own…

So that we had an identity…

BUT what have we made of this country now?

Bomb blasts everyday?

Rampant violation of human rights…

No value of life or honor…

Pakistan is recognized world over as a country full of terrorists…

Tourists have stopped coming here…

Even cricketing nations have bid goodbye to us…!

We are burning everyday…

For food, for electricity, for basic necessities of life…

We are in ashes…

Now here comes the question,

Will we rise out of these ashes?

And the answer, YES we will…!

Yes, we are infact rising out of these ashes…

Ali Moeen Nawazish is testimony of that…

The UN ambassador of Peace, Aisam ul Haq, says that…

Our cricket team ready to battle in Mohali will prove that…

Cricket will come back to this country….

Tourists will flock  to valleys of Swat…

Terrorists would die a silent death…

Kalabagh dam would be built….

Our energy crisis would end…

We will prosper,

Out of the ashes, we will rise again…!