20 SEC READ: The pencil. ORIGINALLY POSTED IN http://www.paulocoelhoblog.com/2010/07/14/20-sec-read-the-pencil-eng-port-esp//

A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point he asked:
‘Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?’
His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson:
I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’

Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special.
‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’

‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.’

‘First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.’
‘Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpner. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.
‘Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.’
‘Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.’
‘Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. in just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action’

source: “Like the Flowing River” by Paulo Coelho

ORIGINALLY POSTED IN  http://www.paulocoelhoblog.com/2010/07/14/20-sec-read-the-pencil-eng-port-esp//

Volunteers’ misfortune or the Disaster hit peoples’ hard luck?

After a struggle of 3 months for a cause’s sake, all seems void and null. They were all students working on it, and they all were regular and there were 90 of them. But, a single blow from the administration of Forman Christian College, Lahore seems to have settled the fire in all the unanimous volunteers, who had stood up for their people’s sake. I have a respect for the administration’s decision, and their valuable suggestions, but the reaction has triggered some interesting thoughts, confusing and complicated though, and I want to know the meaning of these complexities. Constraint, Propaganda, Agenda, Inflation Or The Fate of The People Of Gilgit-Baltistan (Hunza in particular)…

It has been 3 months and the volunteers of Forman Christian College, Lahore are working on a project. The project called Attabad Welfare Project was planed with the department head of Sociology, Prof. Shahid Rasheed, and the team’s advisor Asst. Prof. Ather Azeem. Initially, it was decided to start work in the aftermath of the outflow from the spillway. Fortunately, the downstream destruction did not happen. Thus, Attabad and villages of Gojal (from Ayenabad to Passu) were chosen as the target audience to be addressed.

‘Forman volunteers’ as they started to call themselves had a successful project with the people of Swat, during the period of ‘war against terrorism’. The team went there and served the Swat IDP, and this had an unprecedented result. After a year, the resettled families came to meet the volunteers and invited the volunteers to get a chance to serve them. With a similar notion of showing sympathy and love for their own people in the time of crisis, Forman Volunteers launched the Attabad Jheel Welfare Project. The first goal was:

“To go to the affected area and people themselves so that cultural and social differences are bridged and understood, besides serving them.”

And, the response of our administration to the proposal was nothing but a straight forward denial, which is their right. True that there are administrative constraints and the decision based on inflation, restrictions and the institutions policy regarding extending financial support is fathomable. But, there are three areas that did not sufficiently satisfy me, and neither will it satisfy any other person, after the fact that the proposal was canceled.

Firstly, on the issue of sending an official request to other universities for putting a funding stall by Forman volunteers our administration had interesting proposal. Our university can’t send official request to other universities’ student affairs department, but Forman volunteers should request any society of other university, collect fund through them, and deposit it in the account created by us. This will then be a joint collaboration of “Forman Christian College & Particular University”. How will other university societies agree to us on unofficial request? How will it be called a joint collaboration of FCCU & Particular University, if your students’ affair department can’t send formal request?

Secondly, we supported Swat IDP because it was “war on terrorism”, but this is “a natural disaster/Issue”. What does it mean to support war against terrorism whole heartedly, but to think that the sufferers of natural disaster are receiving good treatment and this is not the pressing issue? Isn’t both situation same on humanity ground, that in each case our people have suffered?

Thirdly, you can work on your personal relations (PR) for funding, but we need to know and “evaluate” your personal relations for why are they ready to give money. “Even if we you are not using FCCU platform”. If we are not using FCCU platform, and if we are standing as volunteers for humanity cause, for the people of Pakistan, for creating a bridge between diverse culture and traditions through a goodwill gesture, why do we need to get our PR evaluated by the administration.

Next, whatever money you have collected using FCCU platform, and whatever fund you may collect from PR, the “best” and “effective” way is to send the funds to a functional NGO, or send it to the people on monthly basis. When our goal is to not just feed the people who are already getting aid and support from various NGOs and the Government itself, rather to have a people level interaction in the time of crisis, utilize the funds on institutional level for e.g. for equipment needed. True that our goals are not ‘holy scripture’, true that this suggestion is a possibility, but what is the problem with giving the dedicated youth a platform for having a chance to serve & bridge gap.

Finally, after all the above, “we are with you, & we appreciate your work”. I hope you really are with the volunteers.

But, the volunteers are going to have a decision based on the current scenario on what are the possibilities of doing the cause. Whatever the decision is, the people of Hunza will receive the message of your sympathy, and your stand on their behalf, for their sake. They will remember you all in their prayers. They will understand the circumstances through which you have been during the campaign, and even after that.