Part Deux

The world is strange. Has it always been strange? From the beginnings of 'modern' society until now, if we had newspapers for every single day, would they read the same types of things they read nowadays? Perhaps this is simply the first time in my life that I am keeping up with current affairs.

The horrendous situation in Libya, the unannounced repercussions of the Jasmine revolution,  the atrocities that inflicted Japan and that remain  inflicting her, the literally unbelievable events that have been unfolding for the last few months in Cote D'Ivoire....it is very strange. I came home some days ago to find that my father likes occassionally listening to 'Eminem'....strange

Before I get to the point of this blog, I have one 'riveting' personal anecdote to share, and for my ever loyal fanbase of three people, bear with me. For patience is key. No, I am not one to quote cliche expressions all the time, since 'You only live once' is one of the most hideous monstrosities of a sentence i have ever heard, mainly due to its justifications. But looking at the Seerah and the Sunnah, the morals you can obtain can absolutely change your life. "Only those who are patient shall receive their reward in full, without reckoning.'' - Quran (39:10) . Now, to the anecdote :-

There was a time some years ago, possibly around 2009, when Pakistan was in the worst position that it had been in, in quite some time. There was news of bombings every other day, death tolls in double and sometimes even triple digits became quite common and the Economist officially proclaimed Pakistan as the 'World's most dangerous place'. A friend of mine actually told me that she feels Pakistan is the worst place in the world to be at that moment. I visited Pakistan during that time, and I was quite shocked as to what I saw... It.... looked good. The infrastructure of Rawalpindi was far more developed, with roads that were under construction having been completed and slightly less congestion. There were some additional security barricades put in place around the city, but to be completely honest, what I saw impressed me. And when I talked to the people over there, there seemed to be a stronger sense of unity. People were upset about the bombings. People were upset about the deaths. But I feel that the portayal of the country I got in the media would have upset them far more, had they been exposed to Pakistan through the sweet seductive glare of the media's window.

Now that is not to say that nothing was wrong, or that things were great. I can't just go into the middle of a nice city and claim that things are perfect. We went through hard times. Very hard times. But my point is that, people are not interested in neautrality, prosperity or happiness. 'Pakistanis are living their normal lives' or 'Atrocities have inflicted Japan, but most of the country remains hopeful' are not exactly headlines that sell thousands of papers. Perhaps the trend of revolution should spread to certain industries...

Now, to the point of this already too long blog. Our first task as the new Isoc exec : PLAN THE ISOC CAMPING TRIP. Thus far, it seems far less challenging than it sounds, but that might be because, thus far, I have not done any work....in a sense. We are blessed enough to have an old exec that has booked the accomadation for two nights, and for anyone wondering how much it costs to take 55 people camping...it costs ALOT.

So my job,with the ever significant aid of my trusty team, is to get us accomadation to and from, choose activities to do, sort out food and equipment for roughly 9 meals, get speakers to make sure the trip is educational aswell and advertise this all....making sure that this all lies within budget all the while. We have created a Facebook group and a Google document in the hopes of making communication smooth and efficient, but we have had to resort to using emails thus far for one reason or another. I have big opinions on emails, but due to the length of this blog, I will refrain myself.

So the ball is definitely rolling. The main thing I have done is send out a super long, super boring email delegating each task to certain members. My main task from now is working with the treasurer on the budget, working with the Ambassador on the speakers, and the rest of the trip will be due to the sweat and tears of our wonderful exec team . I simply need to offer a lazy stamp of approval...ah, the life of an Isoc President seems quite chilling.

Now this is our main concern for the next two months, however, in a month long break where people have been waiting to see their families and need to balance studying for mega tonnes of exams, the amount of work everyone is doing is quite strenuous, and I feel my worthy team deserves a nice big BRAVA! So BRAVA!

One last thing I feel the need to note. I explained the purpose of this blog in my previous entry, and though this is a public blog, it is made through the eyes of the Islamic Society. However, it is open to all, and all are welcome. I cannot dare to represent Islam, but inshallah I pray that my opinions and writings are as consistent with our religion as possible, and hopefully, we can also share an insight into our lives for the people outside the religion or society. It would be nice if visitors outside our wonderful house viewed us from the shiny, glimmering window of the Islamic Society, rather than the afore-mentioned window of the wonderful media