A few days ago, there was a train crash in Pakistan which was all over the news. A train had broken down during the journey and it was hit by another train at early hours of day.
Yes, a train which was standing still was hit. In a time of technology where even the Pakistan Railway mobile app shows the current location of all the trains in real-time, the captain of the train was not informed that he was heading straight towards another train. Can you even imagine how big a blunder this is? It costed several dozen souls. I can’t even get my head around the fact of how hard it was to let the captain know that another train was in his tracks.
It’s a total failure of the system.
This news was all over the media in Pakistan. You could have tuned to any channel and there it was. The talk shows revolved around it. Heart-wrenching live broadcast from the scene of the accident was being shown. Dead bodies were being dragged out, people in total disbelief.
And now just a few days after, the media has moved on. It is now talking about the cricket premier league going on. It is talking about how the opposition party is opposing the new budget being passed. It is talking about the possibility of the CNG prices to go up within the next few days. It is basically talking about everything but the train incident.
The media has moved on as it always does. Even the people have moved on. After all, the media shows what the people want to see, No? The only people who will remember this incident are those whose lives have been affected beyond repair. The ones who lost someone close enough to them that they will feel their absence everyday for as long as they live. The rest of us, we have moved on as we always do.
The same was with the PIA plane crash last year. All the passengers, expect one, lost their lives due to the negligence of a select few and the failure of the system. We as nation came together on the day of the crash, offered our services to what we could afford to give. Media gave coverage, people ran to help the rescue teams, you and me tweeted how badly there was a need to bring a reform to system.
We came together as a nation for all of a few days. Then we moved on with our lives. The same has been true throughout history. Unfortunately, I must add. We don’t remember the past.
So yes, in such cases we are to be blamed for the things we don’t do. We don’t take a follow-up to see if system reforms are brought about after a human disaster. We don’t seem to care much for anything after a few days. That is sad. Myself included, we are becoming self-centered. Heroes who once won medals for our country are now living in poverty. Some of the great scientists of our country have been forgotten and reduced to living on pension. All because we only cared for them as long as they provided us with something.
Anyone who has done something big for our country has been forgotten by us once they have retired. We are too busy to do anything which doesn’t concern us. If we don’t care to press for things to be made right after a national disaster brought about by system failure, then we obviously won’t care for our lost heroes. We have reached a low-low point.
We have become so engrossed in our daily lives that the only thing we can take time out is to watch sports or a good Netflix series. Nothing else matters to us.
We are to be blamed more for the actions we don’t take than for the actions we take. By neglecting to stand up for the real issues, we are at fault. By not supporting the people who have been affected by disasters, we are at fault. By forgetting our national heroes, we are at fault.
We need to change ourselves before the boiling water evaporates from the pot. We need to change before our loved one dies due to a system failure and we are left fighting alone against the system. We need to change. I leave you with a quote by Dan Brown from his novel ‘Inferno’
In dangerous times, there is no sin greater than inaction.
― Dan Brown, Inferno