By Murtaza Somji,
(Nairobi, Kenya)
(Reposted from March 19th, 2010)
I begin in the name of the most glorified and the most sublime, the Absolute All- Mighty and the Infinite.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
As the events unfold, I feel obliged to pen my thoughts as it has become obvious to many of us around the World that serving the Community is becoming more of an anathema rather than a blessing. These thoughts have sprung about because of the torrid development(s) at World Federation level, the glimpses of which were recently noticed on the Africa Federation stage. Gone are the days when there used to be respectful pride in serving the Community, when speaking against our brethren was considered the real ‘Ghibaat’ and when contentious issues were dealt with wisdom rather than them being laden with contest. Morality seems banal, archaic and inadequate – totally overwhelmed by the profane egoism demonstrated by a cluster of men with experience in Community affairs. The educated and the unlettered have taken center-stage in depicting Community Leaders as demonic and without agendas. The pearly Qur’anic verses, despite repeated calls by the Creator to reflect and ponder over the contents therein, have been destined to the shelves of our book-cases.
I read with enthusiasm the report presented by Alhaj Ramzanbhai Nanji and observed the mammoth strides taken during his tenure in ensuring that the Federation becomes self-sufficient in its entirety. The phenomenal increase in the number of students proceeding for higher education, the huge sum of funds on hand, the stream-lining of various Boards & the administrative portfolios, and much much more. I saw the progress graph leap in linear and lateral direction with confidence. I saw the cogs of governance churning through and around the inner sanctum of power. I saw the administration taking soft and tough stances as and when required, depicting superb statesmanship and foresight. An armchair analysis would undoubtedly infer an immaculate underlying micro-management – fully practiced, rehearsed and achieved by the person (or people) in control.
As soon as the report was out, we started!!! No measuring instruments in hand, novice entrepreneurs, experience-less, we embarked on measuring up the person and his Office Bearers. We wrote derogatory remarks, passed judgements and castigated, perhaps even cursed the individuals. Remarks and reviews started flying around, assumptions (the biggest and the worst vice of them all) gained momentum and started flourishing. Suddenly the renowned became the hounded, inadequate to lead and absurd. Gone were the niceties and the pleasantries. Did the individual(s) change or was all this pent-up in our minds as we were laying verbal flowery pathways when they were in office.
I now stand at a precipice of uncertainty. Serving the Community has always been and still is my passion, yet the subtle but damning immaturities and the quest of out-performing one against the other at the cost of vilifying the person, surface as a harsh reality before me. I wish to pose some questions. Why do such episodes happen in OUR Community? Can we afford such disuniting traits? Why have our tolerance levels depleted? It is my firm belief that there are individuals who share these sentiments. These individuals then decide not to venture into this great service for the fear of being hounded and castigated at a later stage. They instead relegate themselves to the periphery which leaves a huge amount of untapped talent in the Community.
Gentlemen, we need to dig deep and reflect. We cannot stagnate in the quagmire of plague and pestilence. We need to identify the dissonance between reality and rhetoric and reach sound conclusions. We have to rise above the mediocre to that which is sublime. We need to introspect our values, our declining moral standards and the elasticity of our behaviour – and all this has to be done with missionary zeal.
So, where do we start??
