Nation Building

Nation Building:
Nation Building is character building. It is not just about sovereignty, but sovereignty and beyond. It is not just about economics, but economics and beyond. It is not what is built, but who builds it.
Nation building is about people first, and everything else second. It is about a people's character first and foremost.
There are many people who went through their suffering, staged their revolutions, and fought their civil wars. When the smoke cleared, they were not a nation. They may have been victorious over their enemies, but that reflected only factionalism, not nationhood. Invariably, triumphs and defeats in battles only led to future wars when disagreements could not be bridged by common goals or dreams. In the course of history, however, many people did arrive at common grounds, albeit with much pain and bloodshed along the way. From those common grounds were born the seeds of nationhood, the collective state and struggle of people to attain their higher aspirations. From stages of violence, of the use of superior force to impose unaccepted will, of exploitation of position and power for personal gain, to the equal application of law for all, to the promotion of social justice and the respect for human rights, to the recognition of a human being's inalienable rights, people grow to nationhood with their own social and cultural refinement. Violence, corruption and poverty are the standard ills, or evils, that plague people who are yet unable to parallel the higher intent of creation. When the more crass and material needs dominate the perspective and attitude of people, their togetherness translates only to survivalist behavior and growth at the expense of others who are weaker.
In other words, people grow to nationhood when their character develops the virtues and values that propel them towards higher humanity.
It is the refinement of character, or the development of collective discipline which adopts integrity, honesty, industry, respect and humaneness for the young, the elderly and the disabled that a people rise up to nobility and honor.
Nation building takes on a universal character when universal values are sought by people from different countries. At the same time, the uniqueness of territory, culture spirituality and history will play a major role in configuring universal values to a particular people. Thus, a Buddhist people will evolve universal values to merge or arise in very distinct Buddhist ways. In like manner, Christians will adapt universal values and reflect them in Christian understanding and lifestyle. Nation building then takes on a very collective spiritual dimension as well as economic, political and social expressions. The journey from being a fractious people to being a bonded one is very much yet in progress. Nationhood when a people's character remains weak, selfish or exploitative is elusive, or simply not possible.
At the same time, the minority Muslims are not in a position either to build a nation grounded on their belief systems. Already at a disadvantage because of their much smaller numbers, their own lack of accomplishments in their areas of responsibility do not set the kind of examples that could inspire and influence the majority to follow their ways. In the face of all we confront, we are all the more reminded that the game is not so much out there but inside of us. Our divisiveness, our propensity to fend for ourselves instead of for each other, our lack of consistency and perseverance in our work and our goals, our inability to transcend the familial for the social or universal, our political and economic dependence to foreign interests — all these slow us down toward our oneness as a people.
Faith is the nursery of miracles, and people power experiences have shown just how miracles can happen. Our longing for change, our thirst for dignity and nobility, and our journey for nationhood have very material requirements which we must meet.
It is our inner challenge, however, the refinement of our spirituality and the formation of our character that will lead us to building the nation we can be proud of, a future full of hope.

Why nation building is important:
All life forms want a comfortable and happy life. In case of human beings it is a sum of 2 things; personal happiness and better environment.
Personal happiness can be obtained from variety of ways.
Environmental happiness is what I call nation building. It is the environment which makes you feels happy to live in, work in and just be a part of it. This environmental happiness also gives us a sense of belonging, makes us feel proud and give us a sense of ownership. Our pride should be genuine and not out of insecurity. For environmental happiness and nation building we need excellent young people like you.

How can student participate in nation building (personal work, for Environmental Happiness):
Firstly, accept that whatever we are today is because of the country and society. Hence we should give something back to the society. Gratitude is the essence of being human. Half an hour per day (only 2% of the time) should be set aside for society work. Almost 200 hours/year.
Work on anything in which you interact with the surrounding and can help make it better. Thus work for helping needy students, cleaning the surroundings, energy saving etc. can all be part of your work for society. Don’t worry about the outcome. Things will happen. You are doing the society work for your benefit – discipline and discovery. Just trying to conserve energy in whatever way you can, will be a great way of helping society. Keep a daily log of the energy consumed and how you can save it. Even thinking on improving your surroundings, writing about it and telling others is society work.
Be active and this activity will give you a positive frame of mind. Develop a “can do” approach. You should be bubbling with ideas. Best ideas are maximum ideas. Be positive in your approach. Rise above the negative things. Make them irrelevant. This is how nature evolves.

Quaid-e-Azam’s speech on Student’s role in Nation Building:
It is necessary that you and your other fellow students fully understand the implications of the revolutionary change that took place on the birth of Pakistan. We have broken the shackles of slavery; we are now a free people. Our State is our own State. Our Government is our own Government, of the people, responsible to the people of the State and working for the good of the State. Freedom, however, does not mean license. It does not mean that you can now behave just as you please and do what you like, irrespective of the interests of other people or of the State. A great responsibility rests on you and, on the contrary, now more than ever, it is necessary for us to work as a united and disciplined nation. What are now required of us all is constructive spirit and not the militant spirit of the days when we were fighting for our freedom. It is far more difficult to construct than to have a militant spirit for the attainment of freedom. It is easier to go to jail or fight for freedom than to run a Government. Let me tell you something of the difficulties that we have overcome and of the dangers that still lie ahead. Thwarted in their desire to prevent the establishment of Pakistan, our enemies turned their attention to finding ways and means to weaken and destroy us. Thus, hardly had the new State come into being when came the Punjab and Delhi holocaust. Thousands of men, women and children were mercilessly butchered and millions were uprooted from their homes. Over fifty lac of these arrived in the Punjab within a matter of weeks. The care and rehabilitation of these unfortunate refugees, stricken in body and in soul, presented problems, which might well have destroyed many a well-established State. But those of our enemies who had hoped to kill Pakistan at its very inception by these means were disappointed. Not only has Pakistan survived the shock of that upheaval, but also it has emerged stronger, more chastened and better equipped than ever.
My young friends, I would, therefore, like to tell you a few points about which you should be vigilant and beware. Firstly, beware of the fifth columnists among ourselves. Secondly, guard against and weed out selfish people who only wish to exploit you so that they may swim. Thirdly, learn to judge who are really true and really honest and UN-selfish servants of the State who wish to serve the people with heart and soul and support them. Fourthly, consolidate the Muslim League Party, which will serve and build up a really and truly great and glorious Pakistan. Fifthly, the Muslim League has won and established Pakistan and it is the Muslim League whose duty it is now, as custodian of the sacred trust, to construct Pakistan. Sixthly, there may be many who did not lift their fingers to help us in our struggle, nay even opposed us and put obstacle in our great struggle openly and not a few worked in our enemy's camp against us, who may now come forward and put their own attractive slogans, catch-words, ideals and programs before you. But they have yet to prove their bonfires or that there has really been an honest change of heart in them, by supporting and joining the League and working and pressing their views within the League Party organization and not by starting mushroom parties, at this juncture of very great and grave emergency when you know that we are facing external dangers and are called upon to deal with internal complex problems of a far-reaching character affecting the future of seventy millions of people. All this demands complete solidarity, unity and discipline. I assure you,

"Divided you fall. United you stand"

I have had the opportunity of talking to you I must warn you not to allow your actions to be guided by ill-digested information or slogans and catch-words. Do not take them to heart or repeat them parrot-like. Take advantage of your period of training that this institution offers you, by equipping yourself to become leaders of the future generation. There is a common fault with the students against which I must warn you. The students believe that no one can tell them anything which they do not already know. That mentality is harmful and often leads to quite a lot of mischief. But if you want to learn by your own experience, and not by the experience of your elders, let me tell you that as you become older, you will be more ready to learn from your costly experiences and the knock that you shall have received during your lifetime, which will harm you more than anybody else. It demands a broader sense of vision, and greater sense of patriotism.
Finally, I would earnestly advise you to think and act with sobriety and in all humility as selfless and true soldiers of the people, and with absolute loyalty to Pakistan. Remember, you must have patience.
I thank you once more for the honor that you have done me today. I wish you every happiness and success.

How can a student help the society:
The rural population lives in primitive conditions. They use kerosene lanterns for light. They also use biomass in primitive cook stoves which have been used for thousands of years. Modern technology somehow has not touched their lives.
Without these people getting into mainstream, environment cannot be improved. Creation of rural based enterprises is the best bet to create wealth and bring these people into mainstream of development. You will all go and become important people in your own enterprises, in corporate and other sectors. Even if you go abroad think how you can create conditions to improve the lives of these people. Use your considerable clout to create enterprises etc. for these people. This is your contribution to society.

Role of Teacher in Nation Building:
As everyone says that a student is the builder of tomorrow. How many of us have realized the important role of teachers for the betterment of our nation? If I say it right only very few of the thousands of people in the community have realized the great importance of educators so that a developing country could move forward.
If we may compare the educators in third world countries to developed countries of the world we could really find the many differences in as much as the teachers compensation, the government’s support, as well as the response of more parents to help the teachers for the their undertakings for the benefits of many students. The governments in developed countries have been helping the schools so that the benefits of millions of teachers could be given. This is not just some kind of a petty problem because this already involves all the people in many nations of the world.
The sad thing is many leaders know that education could really play a vital role in as far as liberating the people from the bondage of poverty and ignorance but the only problem is the real action. Many leaders did not even bother increasing the compensation of teachers. If a country continues to plunge to poverty, it is because the people continue to cry for good education. Many could not apply for better jobs because of no education.
In many Asian countries many governments are trying to institute measures to give education to their fellowmen a boast. For school, college and university students, the government has also set aside funds for study now pay later programs, cultural and minority scholarship programs for indigenous peoples and other scholarship programs to give access to poor but deserving students.