How To Stay In Your Power

 

(32) How to stay in your power

by Fazeel Chauhan 1998

• Follow the 5 pillars of Islam
• Find out what your higher purpose is. Practice it in small amounts every day
• Remember your wins
• Create a context to set up yourself to win at a goal each day
• Make a list of the things you need to do and face
• Take care of things you've been avoiding and get them over with. Complete them
• Meditate
• Keep in touch with what's going on inside
• Know your strengths
• Don't dwell on your shortcomings
• Vird (Chanting)
• Read Quran
• Read inspirational poetry like Iqbal
• Write something everyday
• Do affirmations
• Keep your surroundings clean and organized
• Talk to friends you trust and share your life with them
• Don't hold on to resentments. Forgive
• Exercise every day
• Make a daily check list to help complete tasks
• Avoid stress
• Get enough rest
• Don't take your health and time for granted
• Be Thankful for what you have
• Lower your expectations for being happy
• Don't hurt anyone except in self-defense

 

The Sword of Friendship

 (4) The Sword of Friendship

1-31-91

by Fazeel Chauhan

Majeed is a graduate student of sociology. I recently met him in one of my classes. This is what he had to say: "Sometimes I don't know who to trust. Due to some of my recent experiences, I am very afraid of getting close to people.

"I am a foreign student and have no family here. So my friends are very important to me. But making friends is not easy, specially in Los Angeles. Here, everybody is very busy in their own world, trying to survive. Sometimes, I'm not sure who my friends really are. I've been hurt so many times by friends in the past that now I have developed a defensive attitude. In order to protect myself, I don't get close to anyone and I avoid friendships. The closer you get to someone, the more deeply they can hurt you. It seems like friendships are very temporary here. I feel like "friends" just hang around for a while, until they are able to take advantage of me in some way. There are times when I have five or six friends. Soon afterwards, they fall off one by one, like autumn leaves. Then I find myself all alone again.

"You may think that I'm over-reacting, but there are too many examples to recount. A few people I know here used to be my friends in Pakistan. But they changed after coming here, and now we are like strangers and don't get along with each other. In the beginning it was very hard to accept that they were not my friends any more. Some of the friends I made here, had the Jeckyl and Hyde syndrome. In front of me they claimed to be my friends. But a time came when I witnessed their other side. It turned out that they were just using me and were not sincere.

Naeem, was a very good friend of mine for about a year. One day, I was very surprised to see him acting like a stranger. His friends told me he had a drug problem. I offered him my help, but he completely denied ever using drugs. I was very disturbed to find that I didn't really know him and that he had the ability to look me straight in the eyes and tell me white lies. I thought I was such a fool to have believed the many lies he must have told me in the past. He was dishonest with me and I could no longer trust him. When you find out that someone you care about lied and deceived you, it makes you crazy because you don't know where the lies end and where the truth begins.

"Aqeel is one of my married friends. We both had a mutual friend named Elyas and he was a single man. The three of us spent many weekends together. Then we found out that Elyas was openly making passes at Aqeel's wife. We were really disgusted. This was a man whom I had known for many years. I was very disappointed and hurt. Now I don't know what this friendship was all about. I wasted so much of my valuable time with this hypocrite. I can't convey how badly this hurt Aqeel.

"Many problems with friendships occurred when money was involved. I loaned money to a few of my friends. They usually were in a desperate situation and asked me to do them a favor. I helped them when they needed me, but they weren't there when I needed them. Often, they would not return the loan for a long time and would forget all about it. Then I would have to look bad and chase them to get my money back. They know very well that as students, we barely have enough money to survive. We can't even afford to give spare change to a homeless person. Some would turn the situation around and accuse me of valuing money more than the friendship. But what about their end of the obligation, their promise, their commitment? If they valued my friendship enough, they would have paid me back on time and in full, instead of taking advantage of me.

"I am very hurt to find that I cannot tell when my friends are lying to me. I trust them so much that I don't expect them to deceive me. Why can't they be as sincere and loyal to me as I am to them? I don't think my expectations are unreasonable. In Pakistan, my friends and I truly trusted each other. But here, I can't tell who I should trust and who is insincere and who's lying. On the outside, there is this pretentious front, but inside, they are totally different. I'm never sure of what their motives are."

I could relate to Majeed's experiences. When I first met him, he tried to avoid me too. But eventually, I was able to get through the walls he had erected around him to protect himself. I tell him not to lose hope, that there are many good people out there. For example, my best friend Javed, who now lives in Australia. The thousands of miles between us did not affect our friendship because the trust and commitment are so strong. Deep within us, we have the understanding that we'll be good friends for a long time. Whenever I talk to him, it's like he's there right beside me, like he never left. I am fortunate enough to have a few good friends who genuinely love me. But I've had bad experiences too, just like Majeed.

It is tempting to become selfish and egocentric, like the negative people in our lives. But then how can we live with our selves? How do we go to sleep at night knowing that we've hurt somebody? How do we rationalize our bad behavior? How do we convince ourselves that the damage we did, served a "good" purpose?

I'm sure, there are a lot of Javeds out there. If we assume that there are not, we are doing injustice to them and to ourselves by depriving each other of a valuable friendship. If we have no friends, then life seems meaningless. Humans are after all, social animals. We need to socialize with each other for our survival, much more than we realize. Life seems like death when we have no friends. So we have to take the risk to reach out and connect with somebody. Life is a series of risks and gambles. If you don't roll the dice, you'll never win. You may find a person like Javed, or you may find someone like Elyas. We should be aware of the risks, but should not let fears rule our lives. If you are someone's friend, please be kind and value the trust that has been given to you. Strangers can't hurt us nearly as much as friends can. Friends can cause us deep emotional hurt which can have longterm psycholological effects on us. The poet sufi Bulleh Shah in particular stresses:

Don't break anyone's heart

Because God lives there

In each of us there is an animal; the devil within. But there is also a saint inside all of us. Let the saints take over and chit chat about God's beautiful creations. There are too many miracles to discover and not enough time

The Honorable People

by Fazeel Chauhan

(Published in Pakistan Link  ~  10-5-95)

Forty Eight years ago, millions of Muslims of the Indian Sub-continent gained their freedom. They did not want to live under the oppression of the British or the Hindus. They wanted independence and the freedom to practice their religion and culture without restrictions. Half a century later, we're still slaves. We are not independent and free. Our actions and current circumstances show that we are not living those values that the founders envisioned practicing. Corruption, injustice, oppression and civil war are the diseases destroying our country Pakistan.
The Westerners came hundreds of years ago and enslaved our ancestors. Their motive was greed of power and money. They ruled our people and stole the material goods and ancient treasures of our land. They made us conform to their thinking, laws and values and attempted to divert us away from our magnificent heritage. They used the tactics of divide and conquer to oppress and control us. The brave people who stood up to fight them were killed or bought. They were our enemies and they taught us to hate ourselves. They looked upon us as the "dirty natives." They made us learn their English language and steered us away from our own richer languages. So they brainwashed us into believing that our old traditions and native values were wrong and that it was good to be modern and westernized. We began to lose our integrity, got confused, and started becoming like them.
The British were able to come in and invade the land, hearts, souls and minds of our people because we had become weak. Specifically, we lost the values which had made us powerful, honorable people and the integrity which had kept us on the right path. When we became weak on the inside, both the devil and the British were able to conquer us.
Our forefathers dreamed that things would be different after independence. Our ancestors gave their lives to attain freedom for their future generations. They hoped that we would live happily ever after in our sacred and "Pak" land. The dream has turned into a nightmare today, especially for the people in Karachi. With so much unrest and lawlessness, nobody knows who could get killed next. So many people have guns that it has become like the wild west. Corruption is rampant in our motherland. A poor man who does not have money or connections, is powerless and vulnerable. Freedom of speech means that a person may be killed if he says what he really feels. The basic human rights that we enjoy in America have to be bought and sold in Pakistan. We are still weak because we still allow ourselves to be divided and conquered.
Part of the problems in Pakistan is the covert operations of outside forces like the CIA. We should learn planning skills from the British, Americans and Jews. Their planning is for the next five hundred years. The imperialist British said "We will not only conquer their lands and minds, we will rule their hearts and souls for generations to come." Today, many generations later, our hearts and souls are slaves to the west. A Caucasian man told me proudly "Don't fool yourself. Just because the British flag was replaced by the Pakistani flag in 1947 does not mean that you are free. Any imperialist government still rules the colonies even after granting them "independence.""
The language we are communicating in today is English. It's difficult to communicate feelings and emotions in this language. For example, there are so many different words for love in Urdu. But English is a necessity in today's world. That's fine, but what's really repulsive is when in Pakistan people proudly and abundantly use English words in their Urdu conversations. The more "westernized" a person looks, the more respect and admiration he gets. Today, a popular song is "Goree". Why is white considered more beautiful? Is it because we believe the Caucasians who told us that we are the "dirty natives" and the whites are godly?
Religion and spirituality are very personal things which are between a man and his God. Yet so many people are oppressed in the name of religion. In Pakistan, many people are not educated enough to properly interpret and analyze the teachings of a religion. The people are threatened not to question "religion". The biggest enemy in our culture is self-righteousness. There are so many egocentric people who think that only they are right and everybody else is wrong. They have no tolerance and are threatened by a difference of opinion.
Twenty years ago a boy was born in Karachi. At a very young age he started having dreams in which the great heros of the world appeared to him. Men like Tipu Sultan, Hazrat Imam Hussain, Nelson Mandela, Bob Marley and Allama Iqbal would talk to him in his dreams. They urged him to be a righteous man and lead his people out of their miserable state. For several years, he strengthened his spirit. Then he started teaching people the ancient ways to make them honorable again. He asked these people of integrity to join him and formed a movement called the "Honorable People".

About a million of these warrior souls are now working for human rights in Pakistan. Their values are rooted in their own rich and ancient eastern heritage. These men and women do not compromise their principles and choose death over slavery. These humanitarians are united and are willing to give up their lives to wrong the rights in Pakistan. They will jump off a cliff before taking a bribe. They are not hypocrites or jealous of others. They protect and empower women and children. They ensure that the poor and needy also get the same basic human rights as everybody else. They make peace among warring factions. They talk to the men who want their own little kingdoms and persuade them to join the Honorable People. As leaders of our society, they make long range plans and visualize where our society should be in five hundred years. They care about other people and are not selfish. They believe that their purpose in life is to serve other people. Will you become an honorable person to help your children? What stops you from joining the Honorable People?

Gambling

by Fazeel Chauhan

(Published in Pakistan Link  ~  3-15-95)

Kamran has lived in this country for the past six years. He came here on a student visa to pursue higher education and has just completed a master's degree in Computer Science. Now he's faced with a dilemma. Should he go back to Pakistan or stay here. I have frequently met people who have had to make this important decision. Like the major choices in life, it's a big gamble. Weighing the pros and cons of either option can be very difficult. Here's what his situation is:
"Up until a few months ago, I wanted to stay here. I had planned to send resumes to various companies to look for a job. Someone out there would hire me, I thought, and sponsor me, so that I could live in this country legally. But now I'm not sure whether it's wise for me to stay here. To extend my visa and to buy myself some more time while I'm in the process of making a decision, I have enrolled into a MBA program at my university.
"I have talked to a few of my colleagues who are in the same boat as me. One of them is from Algeria and he was the top student of my university. He was doing an internship with one of the defense contractors. As a project leader, he designed some technically difficult systems, using the latest tools and proved himself a valuable asset to his company. He worked extra hard and obtained awards and recognition from the employer. Yet, even after all of that, the company did not sponsor him. He ended up going back to Algeria and opened up a school there to teach computers and became very successful.
"It seems like I will not be able to stay here. The economy is in bad shape and many computer professionals have been laid off from their jobs. How can I compete with someone who has working experience and citizenship as well? I'm scared and unsure of my future and I don't want to make the wrong decision. I have been in school all my life. Now it's time to get a job and I don't know if I will be successful. That's the main reason I haven't really tried to get a job and have been procrastinating.
"One option I have is to work on my own by assembling and selling computers. But I will be illegal and always concerned about it. Another choice is to marry my girlfriend. She's American and we've been dating for about two years. She says she's in love with me and wants to marry me. But I just don't know. My family would not approve and seems like inter-racial marriages are much more susceptible to failure. When I consider getting married to her, the line between genuine care and taking advantage becomes cloudy. It will break her heart when I go back to Pakistan.
"I know these guys who are in the Desi mafia in New York. They can get me a fake passport or green card. But I've rarely done anything that illegal and risky in my life. The FBI is after them and I'd probably end up getting caught and deported. I don't want to get into that kind of trouble. I think I'll just head back home to Pakistan.
"I love this country and there are so many opportunities and choices available here which are not in Pakistan. I have grown tremendously in the years I've lived here. Twenty years of living in Pakistan could not have taught me the things I have experienced in the last six years in America. But the dirt beneath my feet is not mine and these people in the streets are not mine. This language and culture is not mine and I feel isolated. Friends are hard to find here and people are spiritually starved. Then there is racism and lack of acceptance of "colored" people.
"I think I'll be able to readjust in Pakistan. I have a family that loves me and friends that genuinely care about me. If you have money over there, you can live like you were in America. There's a lot of things I don't like about my country. And I'll have to get involved in trying to correct them. I should work to help my own people. I'll open up a computer school there and improve the life-scope of my own folk. I'll get married to one of my own kind and hopefully not live unhappily ever after. Life is a series of choices, a bunch of gambles. Each choice you make opens up a new world to you and simultaneously shuts out another universe of options. I hope I'll make the right decision. Only time will tell"

Hopes and Dreams

by Fazeel Chauhan

(Published in Pakistan Link  ~ 1-22-92)

Younus came to the U. S. two years ago as a foreign student, to get a bachelors degree in civil engineering. He came here in search of hope, opportunity and a better life. But his plans were altered due to a strange twist of fate. He recently had a brush with death when he was shot two times.
His parents almost lost their only son. He had come to the U. S. for higher education upon his father's recommendation. After graduation, Younus had planned to work here for a while and then hopefully land a job in the middle east, that paid well. His father had sold some property to get enough money to send him over. He continued to financially support Younus as much as he could, but the expenses were too great. So Younus decided to start working here.
He applied for a working permit to get a part time job so he could partially support himself. For a while, he worked in the campus library but was paid close to minimum wage. Then, a few months ago, he found another job at a liquor store, working as a security guard. His job was to guard the liquor store at night. He expected it to be an easy job. The hours were great and he would also be able to do his schoolwork at his job. Besides, the pay check at the end of the week would be a little bigger.
A couple of weeks ago, the incident took place while he was at work. He had stepped outside the store for a few minutes. When he walked back in, he saw a man robbing the cashier at gun point. The robber was startled when he saw the security guard walk in and he panicked. He turned around and shot at Younus three times with his hand gun. He missed only once. Two of the bullets hit Younus and he fell to the ground, screaming in agony and pain. The robber snapped the few dollars from the cash register and ran out the door.
Younus lay on the ground in a pool of blood, his life flashed before his eyes. He screamed in pain, disoriented and shocked at what had just taken place. The cashier, tried to comfort him while they waited for the ambulance and police to arrive. The police was unable to find the gunman, he had escaped. The paramedics worked fast, trying to stop the bleeding at the two wounds. Younus was in bad shape as the ambulance rushed to the hospital. The first bullet had hit him in the ribs, two inches below his heart. The other one went through his right thigh.
The doctors told him later that if he had arrived at the operating table half an hour later, he would not have survived. But he was very lucky and they were able to save his life. He was in intensive care for a few days and eventually his condition stabilized. He's at home now, but still confined to his bed, as he recovers. He still can't believe that this happened to him. It was totally unexpected. Still in shock he wonders why this happened to him and how he could have avoided it. He had done nothing to hurt the gunman. He just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Younus is going back to Pakistan in a few days so that his family can take care of him. They are worried and scared. They want him to come back home and forget all about America. Younus is a fighter though, he says he'll come back to finish his studies, as soon as he's recovered. I don't know how he will rationalize what happened to him. How will he deal with the incident? And what about the gunman? What was his motivation? How does he live with himself, knowing that he almost killed another human being?

Some times I wonder, why bad things happen to good people. Younus was a good person. All he wanted was to be able to live a better life. He didn't want to hurt anybody. We all have our dreams and we all make our plans. But behind the veil, there are unknown forces that have their own plans for us, leaving us with too many unanswered questions

Mind and Media

by Fazeel Aziz Chauhan

(Published in Pakistan Link ~ 1-7-93)

Knowledge is power. At a recent gathering to celebrate Quaid-e-Azam's birthday, I learned how much he stressed the importance of attaining knowledge. In his will, he distributed all of his belongings among three schools. In today's fast paced information age, the media of film, tv and radio can be excellent sources to provide us with knowledge.

Many people have suggested that education can solve a lot of our problems. If people are well informed, they tend to become more objective. They may become more tolerant of other points of views and may some day use non-violent means instead of resolving conflicts through fighting and warfare.
The U. S. as a super-power, can influence the events taking place in the world. This country and its people have the potential to create a world focused on destruction or on peace. Therefore, it is very encouraging when the media does a good job of informing the people. Without information we are blind. Learning and growing is what life is all about. I would like to draw your attention to some of these refreshing, and some very courageous efforts on the part of the media.
I was glad to see a famous director, Oliver Stone, use the medium of film to inform the people about one of the most popular leaders of this country, John F. Kennedy. The movie "JFK" tells us that he wanted to end the Vietnam war and cut military spending. He wanted to dismantle the CIA, and he was against attacking Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He also played a role in helping Blacks and other minorities get equal rights. JFK had some revolutionary ideas about changing the policies of this country in the world. But he was viewed as a threat by some, and was assassinated. The conspiracy theory points the finger at the CIA, the military and even the Vice-President, Linden Johnson. This high budget and widely distributed movie by one of the country's leading directors is being well received by the movie-going audiences. It has made people raise questions about what really goes on in the government. The film is an eye-opener and I highly recommend it.
There are other good movies also, which have a similar theme as "JFK". Since Pakistanis love to see movies, I'll mention some of them. An excellent movie about the Iran-Contra affair is "Cover Up". It has been showing in Santa Monica for the past few months but is also available on video. The Christic Institute is a law firm that has taken on, and won, historical issues such as the Karen Silkwood case. The movie "Silkwood" was based on this case. The Christic Institute has a case pending against the people involved with the Iran-Contra affair. They have researched and documented evidence that supports the claims of the movie "Cover Up". It tells how Reagan and Bush knew all along, about the CIA's involvement in weapons and drug smuggling. A movie with some positive and enlightening ideas is "Mindwalk". It deals with personal, political and global issues.  It is based on a book by Fritjof Capra. He is a leading scientist in Physics who connects it with mysticism. "Dances With Wolves" tells us that all people are the same and that the real enemy is within each of us.
PBS uses the medium of television positively, with their wide range of programs, to effect the lives of the viewers. One of my favorite shows is "Frontline". A few months ago, I saw two movies on Channel 28. Award winning, "The Official Story" from Argentina deals with the disappearances of thousands of people in their country. Another very disturbing film "State Of Siege" is from Uruguay. It is about the police departments of countries around the world. Many countries send their top police officers to be trained in the U. S. Torture techniques and fear tactics are some of the topics covered in the training classes. The police headquarters in Uruguay were partially run by an American "advisor", in 1971. This was how the U. S. was able to exert direct control over the people of that country.
A good source for news and information on the radio is listener sponsored KPFK, 90.7 FM. An enlightening talk show on KLOS, 95.5 FM with host Frank Sontag comes on Sunday night at midnight.
I commend all the people in the media who are trying to empower us with knowledge. I hope this trend continues and that we'll see less of the usual sex and violence and more of vital issues that effect our world and our lives.

Community and Belongingness

Community and Belongingness

by Fazeel Aziz Chauhan

(Published in Pakistan Link ~  3-15-95)

We come to the United States in search of something better. In the process, we may gain a lot, but we are also uprooted. We lose many precious things, including our loved ones and our home. To combat the hardships of this new land, we need the support of our fellow Pakistanis. A strong community can provide us with the feeling of belongingness and make us feel like home.
The famous psychologist Abraham Maslow identified a human being's five most important needs as:
1) Physical
2) Safety
3) Love and Belongingness
4) Self-Esteem
5) Self-Actualization
To fulfill the love and belongingness need, we must have the support of our community. In our house, our family provides us with this warm and comforting feeling. This is how we define a place as "home". At home we feel like we really belong there. It's a place where we are loved, accepted, sheltered and nurtured. We have left our homeland - Pakistan, and have now moved into our new house - the United States. In this new house, our community can serve as our extended family to turn it into our home.
Personally, I've tried to blend into the American lifestyle, but often I am treated like an outsider. We may not be considered as equals, based on our differences in culture, language, religion and color. These are the harsh realities of life in the United States. Discrimination is psychological genocide. Such obstacles seem overwhelming if we attempt to combat them all alone. But we can face them better if we know that we have the support of a strong community behind us. This "community" is not a vague and abstract entity some where out there. We have to think of it simply as you, and me.
These comments are not intended to create reverse discrimination. What I am suggesting is that our Pakistani community can serve as our home base, offering us stability. We should be able to feel confident that we can always return to this safe haven. As individuals, we have to implant our roots deep into our community. From there, we can go out to succeed in the rest of the world. Otherwise, we are liable to drift away like a ship without an anchor. We have to start with ourselves.
There is an emphasis on individuality here, but there is also a lot of isolation. As lone individuals, we run the risk of losing our identity. We can become discouraged enough to lose our hopes and dreams. It can turn into a terrible situation, making our life here very difficult.
Under these circumstances, the support of our fellow Pakistanis becomes extremely important for our survival and well being. We need role models and friends. We should be able to interact intimately and bond with each other. Together we can form this united community.

Instead of pointing out each others' human weaknesses, we should focus on the other's positive qualities. We should embrace the common threads that unite us. We can overcome fearing each other and stop allowing our differences to create distances between us. It will be very helpful if we have an objective attitude and are more tolerant of other people. Our culture teaches us to be sensitive and caring. I appeal to you to use these abilities to get close to, and empathize with each other.
Life in the U.S. can become very challenging indeed. Therefore, the circle of a tight-knit community can serve as an essential refuge, where we can frequently come and feel at home. If each one of us does our part in helping one another, we can make this place our home away from home. A strong community can be a homeland and like a mother, comfort us in her loving arms. She can give us the feelings of belongingness and acceptance, and help erase our feelings of homelessness. Isolation makes us feel weak and rejected. Belongingness charges our batteries and makes us feel strong and empowered.
Let's have community gatherings more often, to preserve our roots and identity, as well as our sanity. More importantly, let's focus on the individual level. If each one of us offers their support to all the people they come in contact with on a daily basis, we can develop this powerful community. Let's offer our trust and friendship to each other. We can share a few laughs to ease each other's sorrows. Some times all we need is a few words of kindness. Let's embrace each other and unite in a strong circle of our community, where we can help and love one another, through the limited time we have left here together.

American Born Pakistanis

American Born Pakistanis

by Fazeel Chauhan
(Published in Pakistan Link ~  2-19-91)

Eighteen year old Uzmah Multani is the founder and current president of the Pakistani Student Association at California State University, Los Angeles. Two years ago, she decided to form the organization on this campus to encourage Pakistanis to get involved in social and cultural activities. Her intention was to provide a common platform where Pakistanis could meet and exchange their views about life in the United States and to offer support to each other. She has worked very hard to serve our community in a positive manner. Personally, I have found valuable friends and support, through this organization. The following is a synopsis of a conversation I had with her about what it's like being an American born Pakistani. She talks about some of the difficulties posed to Pakistani Americans. I believe these statements also ring true for those of us who have been here for many years.

"I was born in California and have lived here all my life. As I was growing up, my family enriched my life by instilling in me, the traditional Pakistani values. While at school, the American culture also had an influence on my life. When I was a child, some people viewed my identity with a bit of mystery. Their reactions would some times make me wonder what I was: Pakistani or American. My physical characteristics, language and values were Pakistani, yet my spirits were somewhat American.

  

"Most first generation Americans like me, seem to live two roles. Yet it is not like two separate and parallel lives, one American and the other Pakistani. Usually people take the best of both worlds and carefully sculpture a good combination that best suits their individual personality. Like myself, they still consider themselves as Pakistanis. But Some hardliners disagree and question our freedom of choice and want us to be just like a picture in their minds - a stereotype. If our individuality and uniqueness makes them uncomfortable, they become afraid and their narrow minds cannot accept us. This is the unhealthy "either / or" thinking. To them, it has to be either "A" or "P". They want to classify us and put us in a convenient box or category. Prejudice is based on this type of thinking that "I am right and you are wrong", or "We are good and they are bad." But the fact is that there are very few absolutes in the world. The definition of a pure American or a pure Pakistani is extremely subjective. Some ethnocentric and egocentric people want to divide humans into such categories so that they can discriminate against one group or the other.

"Some Caucasian Americans are prejudiced against other Americans who are non-white. I'm sure that just like us, most other non-whites have witnessed plenty of discrimination of this type. I founded PSA because I consider myself a Pakistani. I'm sure you're aware of the sad reality that some Pakistanis are prejudiced against each other. For example, some Pakistanis discriminate against American born Pakistanis. Yet most people do generally accept and respect Pakistani Americans for exactly what we are. They accept us as equal and don't get hung up on differences in languages, religion, culture, gender or place of birth.

I think that being a Pakistani American is a gift. Friends have commented to me that having two identities is far more beneficial than one. We can have Pakistani friends as well as American. Pakistani Americans have the capacity to look at things in a different light and in a more open-minded perspective. I believe that one person's culture, language or gender does not make him or her better than the next person. What really counts is what we have inside of us. Pakistani Americans are exposed to more than one ethnic group, culture and language. This educates them in different areas of life and enables them to relate more openly to people with different backgrounds. They usually view themselves as world citizens and are more willing to accept people of different ethnicities as equals.

"I used to attend Arabic classes at the Islamic Center every Sunday. I mixed with children from various other backgrounds. However, the common denominator of being Muslim united all of us. Students were not classified into different categories, they were just educated. It was then I realized that individuals who classify others are simply trying to prove their own superiority. Religion always taught us unity and equality. Yet humans persistently attempt to supersede all moral codes by implementing their own personal rules and subjective values. Around the world, this factor encourages separatism, ethnic violence, prejudice and war.

"Man has created borders that divide countries and their people. We should not view "us" as better than "them". Rich or poor, Pakistani or American, Punjabi or Sindhi, Shia or Sunni, we are all equal. We have to climb over these walls to the "other" side to get the "other's" perspective, an additional point of view. We are all mirrors and what we see in others are reflections of ourselves. If "others" seem different than "us", we should overcome our fears and try to relate to them objectively. Growth is not possible without objectivity. I wish that we'll soon see a day when Pakistanis can get along with other Pakistanis, Americans can get accept other Americans and people of all "colors" in the world can peacefully and harmoniously unite together, like a beautiful rainbow"

lokol and globol kowboyz

(a litany of trigger happy gun users and “conquerors”)

 

lokol and globol kowboyz

I shewt
bewhere
stay awey
mighty fense
you vermin
its myne
keep aut
don’t nock
you lost
no home
moov on
you ded
the end