Courage and perseverance ~ Do we still have these traits in us?

The human nature to fend for oneself has in a way outgrown all aspects of communal care for the good of the community worldwide.

When traits such as courage and perseverance starts to disappear from the characters of most members of the human society, the ensuing degradation of Mankind often rears its ugly head and society tends to become aloof at the sufferings and misfortune that befalls the unlucky ones amongst us.

I am not saying that all human society have gone to such waste but just pointing out the general tendencies nowadays to be more concerned about ‘What is it in for me’ instead of ‘What can I do to help others?’

The celebrated parables of long ago and exhilarating speeches of leaders past fail to stir the masses into becoming true champions and heroes of humankind all over the world.

Courage is simply not there anymore in the hearts and minds of our fellow humans when faced with the despots and dictators of the world.

Instead, we have foolhardiness take pride of place in the befuddled minds of young adults and which at times pits them against the brunt of officialdom which wields a devastating cudgel against those who dare to question their dictatorship and often imperial ways.

When liberalists pursue a changing of their society through the breaking down of long held taboos and religious fundamentalism as we saw take place in Iran recently, confrontation between the old guard and the reformists is inevitable.

Yet the world witnessed how it is only the common citizens who have to face the brunt of the counter assault by the ones in power through their security and law enforcement agencies and left many bloodied and even killed in the name of change.

Courage to stand up to the ones in authority almost always ends up in bloodshed and loss of life yet those who die are seldom the ones who stand to gain from such reform.

This is where we need to evaluate as to whether the so called champions of change and reform do stand their ground with the people or escape to save their hide as soon as the going gets tough?

I have seen this hypocritical act of cowardice take place over and over again no matter where it is in this whole wide world.

The courageous are often the opinionated young members of the student movements who in actual fact often turn out to be the leaders of the future!

Their perseverance ought to be celebrated as well in wanting to see the ousting of the ones reeking of corruption and abuse of their positions in the running or ruining of their individual nations.

Every country has its own fair share of such stories of courageous ones spearheading reform and revolution to dispel their nation of the parasites in power.

The overall makeup of the youths in my country is that those who are university and college students never fail to become the next generation of thinkers and activists to stir up the masses into voicing out and speaking up against those who wield seemingly limitless powers in making sure that no one gets to dethrone them from their seats of power, fame, fortune and glory till the next general elections.

Anyone who dares to castigate the high and mighty often find themselves penalized almost instantly before they had time to even blink!

I recall the case where an NTV7 talk show host Florence Looi was immediately taken to task and transferred to a desk job when one of the participants in her show speaking about the new Malaysian Prime Minister Dato Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak graded his first 100 days in office as a mediocre grade ‘C’ or ‘D’ which had drawn the wrath of those in charge of the private television station.

‘Mimosa pudica’! Touch me nots in authority.

It takes courage and perseverance to voice up all these and there are not that many around who dare do it for the sake of bringing about true change to the nation here or others around the globe.

I pray that over time we will still be able to see the young voices and brave hearted ones amongst our populace stand up and speak with honor and dignity before the wrongdoers.

If we fail to support and nurture these courageous heroes persevering against all odds as we have seen through the years, I shudder to think of the consequences when what was prophesied by Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wassallam before really comes to pass and we will have the worst amongst us clenching and clamping down onto the seats of power, ruthlessly downtrodding the people just so they might live in pomp and splendour.