Are we moving forward or backward?

There was no Pakistan before 1947. Pakistan was part of India. After a very long religious struggle from both sides, Hindu and Muslim leaders both decided to give a birth to Pakistan, a Muslim country where Muslims can live with full religious freedom and Hindus can have freedom in India. There was no pressure on anyone which country to live. You can read more about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(Pakistan)  

I believe my Ami was under 10 years old when her and her entire family migrated from India to Pakistan for the religious freedom. Growing up, I have heard horrible sad stories of inhumanities in the name of religion. Since Pakistan was born from India, Pakistan share the same culture, languages and even of courses, Pakistanis and Indians all look alike.

  I am the first generation of Pakistan. Growing up in Karachi, Pakistan, I heard and experienced how much hatred Pakistanis had toward Indians. And I have heard Indians also feel same way about Pakistanis. It was or may be still just about the religion, but then it becomes more strong hatred toward each other about everything, such as food, sports and making friends. Here is an example: I remember very clearly every time we were having cricket matches; of course Pakistan and India are both countries that are big into cricket matches. We pakistanis would rather lose to other countries but couldn’t afford to lose from India. It was and I know it’s still about ego. I remember so clearly it wasn’t just men watching the cricket matches; women and kids also sat down as a family and watched it together at home and prayed really hard not to lose against India. And when Pakistan lost the game, it was like someone had died. You could see the strong hatred so openly and clearly. This is just a one example of hatred.

As I started growing up, I never liked the feeling to hatred toward other human being who I haven’t even met. When I had my own kids I decided to break the circle, and I didn’t let my girls to divide people based on their skin color, nationality or religions beliefs. I believe we parents aren’t just raising a child; we are raising a future generation.

Without going into the polities and seeing right now what’s happening all around the country, it took me back to the past, hatred toward India. It’s making me think, are we mowing forward or mowing backward? We are all human and God made all of us. I believe we should judge a person based on her or his character, not based on her or his skin color, gender, status and nationality. Please be very careful about the attitude and the words we use around our kids toward other persons. Our words are very powerful; use it wisely.

"I have decided to stick with love…Hate is too great a burden to bear.". ~ Dr. Martin Luther King