Values of Democracy:
Democracy, we have been remained by social scientist
from Socrates onwards, is of all form of governments the most difficult to
practice. It is in many respects easier to allow others to do our thinking for
us than to work out for ourselves our individual duty as citizens, and do it. A
democratic state depends for its successful working upon the corporate effort
of all its citizens,
Corporate efforts, therefore, require the harmonious
fitting in of individual angles for the benefit of the whole. Man in society is
like the well-oiled wheel of a machine, independent yet interrelated,
individual yet patterned by the needs of the whole.
PROBLEM OF DEMOCRACY.
Thus the problem of democracy is the problem of
producing a man, as the unit of civic life, who is individually developed yet
socially responsible, and that, we must admit, is the problem of problems,
especially when we look round and cast our eyes not on humanity in general but
put the man on the street under the scanning gaze the social microscope, and
get nearer home.
Judged from these standards, if we examine closely
our fellow-citizens of the same town and the same street, we must confess we
are far below the normal. In our society today we sadly fall short of the
responsibilities of graduated citizens. Admitting our short-comings with
frankness given a stab in the heart no doubt, but to see the reality
of I in naked ugliness we have only to go to a cinema show, “Brarat” shall we
say, and see the “riot” which takes place when people buy tickets, or go to the
railway station and see the tug of clothes and the push of shoulders before you
can find yourself in possession of a ticket. Even go to an unemotional place
like the telegraph office and you will see that you cannot even dispatch a
message without a miniature trial of strength with your fellow-citizens. These
scenes for an individual are as disgraceful as they are humiliating to a nation
to be conscious of them and talk about them is not an expression of any
inferiority complex, but it is the first step in quest of that regenerative
force which must be tapped before we can shake off the stupor of our people,
and equip them morally for entering into the conscious sphere of social
responsibility.
SOCIAL CHAOS AND THE INDIVIDUAL:
Looking round one becomes painfully aware of the
lowness of those standards which govern our social behavior. In our society
money has become the measure of value. It would be a commodities but we have
come to measure even human value in terms of money, and that is the tragedy of
our lives today. Do not deceive yourselves and deny this charge by saying,
“look, our respect for Jinnah is not dependent on his wealth”. I want you to
talk of the standards with which you judge a man belongs to your sphere, within
your reach, and judge your reactions honestly and confess them at least to
yourselves and be ashamed in your own heats.
Be it the realm of politics or social relations we,
as a people , are not fair to one another. From the cinema booth to private
dealings, our life presents a staggering scene of social and moral chaos.
We are passing through a crisis which is national in
its width and psychological in its depth. And it is human fiber which is being
tested in the tug-of –war.
It has made us feel unmistakably that freedom could
remain an empty symbol unless our social morality moves on an upward grade.
Our leader be the essence of Godliness himself, but
if the character of the average man, the so-called man in the street, remains
nearer to the animal kingdom, that to the human species it augur ill for the
nation.
NEEDS FOR A NEW VALUES
We must set the hurdle of public morality higher.
This, in fact, is our first national demand.
The whole world is busy today making a searchinganalysis of social values. Labels matter little but what does matter is the
realization of our moral degeneracy and what matters still more is our
determination to set up new standards by which social behaviour may assume a
more elevated tone, and life may become worth living among citizens who are at
least fair to one another, who keep their minds open to accommodation and
hearts open to toleration. Let us think concretely on these lines, not in term
of slogans but in terms of actual measures which we need ti adopt on a national
scale. Only by thus influencing the minds of millions and rearing up a
generation which readily listens to the voice of social conscience can we
produce a better nation which alone means better Pakistan.
