Educated Vs. Uneducated

Few days ago while I was on my way to office at morning I saw a roadside fight. A middle aged suited booted person driving his Air Conditioned Honda City was having a heated conversation with an old age cab driver; the ironing of his clothes was seriously deteriorated. Apparently as per our observation, it was the suited booted Uncle who was at fault as he tried to take a sharp turn without giving an indication. By the looks he appeared to be well educated but the same could not be said once you have heard him talk to that cab driver. Even though he was at fault he did not accept his mistake and kept blaming and abusing the cab driver of rash and silly driving, even though had cab driver not put the brakes at the right time, we might had to witness some collateral damage as well. Contrary to that suited booted person, the cab driver although being older than him, tried to talk calmly and he still remained in his senses but once the threshold of patience was breached, he started shouting as well. However, I noticed a huge difference among both.

The cab driver remained quite courteous and respectful so that this issue could end as soon as possible. On the other hand that educated Uncle used every possible harsh word that could come in one’s mind. When he realized it is not making any impact on taxi driver, he became a bit personal. I still remember his last lines were something like that

“Na driving krni aati hai na hi seedhay mou baat kr sknay ki koi tameez hai, pta nai kahan sy aa jatay hain ye ghreeb jahil log apni khatara le kar”.

Having said so, that person got back into his car and drove away. The cab driver also had to reach somewhere so he went away as well but not before feeling the heat and ultimate sarcastic statement from one of those ‘civilized’ who proudly call themselves the face of true Pakistan. For moment or so I was left pondering, who was better among these two, an educated or an uneducated?

Yes, you read that right. I won’t say a person educated if he/she doesn’t know how to talk in public to the public and poor. Yes, he might be called literate on technical terms but he has no manners what so ever to even admit his fault, (apologizing to the mistake comes many folds after). He didn’t do the act which you should expect from an educated person. What’s the point of wearing a branded 2 piece suit with expensive shoes and watch, driving an AC car if your tongue is not in your control? I would be calling such a person as uneducated. A person who can’t any good to others but for himself only is of no use. On the other hand, that taxi driver despite having no knowledge still had manners to talk and respect. If you had seen that incident you could easily declare the uneducated a better person in comparison. At least such a person can win others hearts and earn their favor just by talking politely and following the manners.

This is just an example of what we have become these days. I can give you hundreds of examples where the same natured incidents happen in daily life. Our society is investing and wasting a lot of money to go to internationally recognized institutions and earn the highly qualified degrees. But, these degrees will only make you literate. What makes you educated is the way you were raised and trained in your family. The moment you start talking, you leave the everlasting impact on the observer/reader and if you left a bad impression, that couldn’t be covered up with such degrees, lavish dressing and personal transport. If you claim to be a successful person with such credentials then Let Me Say I am sorry, you are far away from being successful, a blacksmith, cobbler, barber, driver, peon, sweeper, guard who could speak with dignity and show polite nature and all the manners is much more educated to you because he did not forget the basic lessons.

You have all the rights to disagree to me Let Me Say that I would prefer uneducated over such educated in our society, because what our society badly needs is the tolerance, patience, respect for others attitude. I agree that not all the educated had lost manners but there is still a big ratio of such people who are also holding important positions within and out of government, ruling us all. What if you admit your mistake rather blaming it on the poor and weaker one, it will make you a great person in true senses. 

Aren’t we all a product of Allah?

You must have noticed that every project requires planning, estimation, risk factor involvement, its pros and cons, its usefulness and its impact on nearby environment where it would be launched. We are also aware of the fact that when a product starts malfunctioning after production then there are two ways to deal with it, either that product is sent back for fixation which may lead to a new product development or that product may lead to the demise and downfall of the company on the whole. We do observe in our daily life that the users of the product if not satisfied with it, they either throw it away and look for something new that could cater for their needs or they completely lose their faith over that producer. This is just how the cycle continues until one of the two things happen, either a product gets better and better or the whole project gets cancelled.

Now if we compare ourselves to the product and the creator of us is none other than the Mighty Creator Allah Almighty, for Whom the creation of whole universe is not a problem including all the blessings in it. We were all created for a greater purpose. If Allah had wanted for us to just to perform Ibadat, HE would have opted for Angels, who keep on performing Ibadat all the time and they never get tired of it neither they ask any question or objection to the assigned task. Indeed one of the basic obligation for Muslims is to pray to Allah and ask for His blessings and forgiveness all the time. But, is that really all for what we were sent to Earth? Really is that so?

We blame our fate and luck for whatever misdeeds and tragedies happen to us and we take credit for ourselves when we do something beneficial for ourselves. We completely forget that unlike machines and other man made products which may have flaws and built in issues which need fixation; creations of Allah Almighty are spotless and flawless. That does not mean that we have got the license to point fingers at others and make humor and fun of their weaknesses. Yes, it is true that not all humans are equal physically they are different from each other and it is because Allah wills it. You must have seen and there might be a possibility that either you were the victim or you victimized someone cutting jokes at someone just for fun and some moments of joy. We just forget how much it may hurt the person we have pointed the finger at, another more sensible and mature way to look at it is that we are criticizing the producer and creator by doing so, not the product itself. So, you tell me how could you be happy and living a peaceful live once you have done the worst crime ever possible.

It’s very simple and easy to look at someone else and start finding its weaknesses but did we ever try to look into our souls? Are we that much immune to evil and devil? If others can be corrupt, what makes you the odd one out? As we are living in the same society and so if others are infected with some disease, there is highly likely that we have got the same germs. It’s very disturbing to see people (including me, yes I am not immune to it as well) harassing others while thinking they are much more superior. This mindset has already left the Muslims world in a jeopardy where we have declared the followers of different school of thoughts/sects as Non-Muslims. It didn’t end just here, some of those “superlative muslims” went step further and announced it’s the teachings of Islam to kill such non-believers. We have dragged Islam in every matter but we forgot the teachings of Islam by the same ratio. Giving the orders to kill other believers as we have got direct entry pass to Jannah? Making it look ridiculously easy as if killing a human being is no more a problem and as they have got the guaranteed license to kill straight from heavens. We are the one who need to clean this mess as soon as possible. Islam is not that complicated if we keep it simple. But, alas we made it controversial by our own deeds. Enforcing Shariah? How could you make people follow Shariah, and one more question, what kind of Shariah to follow? Which school of thought has the right to do so? Aren’t we just Muslims, if so why create different divisions and if somehow divisions were there even before we were born, did we ever try to bridge that gap? No, instead we made the gap bigger and bigger by abandoning others and going far away from the similarities we have as Muslim. I believe that the differences are not as many but we made those more complex than ever. We instead of using Islam for humanity have started to use it whenever we feel it could benefit us by some way.

  

It never matters who you are, what you do, the family and the bloodline don’t matter as well. It’s up to you and Me to change our attitude and behavior before it’s too late. Because when the product starts to malfunction and it becomes irreparable, no one wants to use it anymore and even the producer has to replace it with new and better product.

Let me say that once we will stop pointing each other mistakes and we will try to fix our own flaws, we will become an improved product that could thrive in this era and we will ultimately achieve the ultimate purpose for what we were created i.e., to find our true worth and to make this world a dream place to live in rather a nightmare or a horror scene from a scary movie. Let me say that we should try to bridge the gap among different sects believers and try to find a common ground so that we can move on and let’s make this world a better place and especially make this country a place where tolerance and religious differences are to be respected rather making it a point of conflict and ambush.