So what now?

So what now?

I wonder where we go from here, and what a modern day Golden Age would resemble. I sit with adequate roofing over my head, the latest technology in front of me, a glass of warm milk to my side, and think…much like how the Great thinkers did.  My brothers and sisters in Syria, I am calling out to you.

I used to think at the age of 16, that I had reached the peak of my maturity. Even in the last few months, however, my views have changed drastically. I would think about Egypt and wonder how people could equate that with Amy Winehouse’s passing, or why people would still care about Manchester United when the other side of the world was in a shambles. I feel that I understand these situations better, yet I realize that I do not understand said situations at all. ‘If the world is about to end and one of you has a palm tree plant in his hand, he should plant it’. Looking back, I do not think I was wrong. I think we all reach our intellectual maturity capacities early in life. What aids us further is experience, and God knows best

Yes, I remember that this is an ISoc blog. No, it doesn’t matter that I’m its writer and its sole reader

Since our last adventure together, we have gone through many endeavors. We raised almost 7000 pounds during a successful Charity Week, hosted an array of scholars, ended the year with a social, and went through the most wonderful time of the year….exam period!

-Umm…excuse me, Mr. President, but you always just skip through all those interesting details. We wanna know HOW you guys did all that

-Well,Little Timmy, lack of space does leave us constrained for time

-Aww shucks….

-Well, alright, if you insist…but don’t call me Mr. President

So in a nutshell, Charity Week was organized by a whole separate committee to our Executive, so that we could take on more of an overseeing role. Keeping that in mind, the fact that Fresher’s, and people with very little experience, organized an entire array of events from scratch, including a screening of Malcolm X, selling thousands of doughnuts across campuses, and a massive Gala Dinner , all by themselves is absolutely incredible.

-Gosh Golly, that’s awesome

-It truly is, young Timmy. They deserve a majestic round of Cyber Applause

Hosting a speaker is not too difficult, particularly with the contacts that you develop in these roles, and your relationship with FOSIS. The best thing to remember is just to take care of the little details. Confirm and reconfirm dates and times. Play the entire event in your head, and keep asking yourself who is going to take care of each little thing. Now with socials, we have definitely learnt one thing. It does not matter how simple the event is, guys like to chill. Get a room, an Xbox, a deck of cards, and a few pizzas, throw them in a room and eons of people will flux in, through osmotic diffusion.

-Sounds like you’re a busy guy, Mr. Pre-; I mean Shehroze

-Not at all, all you need is a dedicated team, and the rest is in Allah’s hands

-Gee, thanks Shehroze. Can you leave us with something poignant, philosophical and epic?

-No, sadly, I am not JK Rowling. I can however, give you some food for thought

I touched earlier on the different ways in which people look at situations. There will always be your Mother Theresa’s, and your slackers. The Muhammad Ali’s, and the people that just want to be Ali on the PS3. The people who fight for change will always be a minority, because by definition, they must defy the norm. Hence, the norm must be the anti change. There is a risk of my point getting lost in all this technicality, but do bear with me.

We are a generation that people have ridden off. Partying, fun, living in the moment, lost causes…and maybe that was further supported by this summer’s events.  Who is this generation’s Martin Luther King, or Malcolm X? I have asked myself that same question, and hence, I have fallen into the trap of judging millions of people. But it is our generation that fought for something in the Arab world. The generation that is sick of politics because they have grown up listening to the grown ups bicker about it day and night. We are the people who demonstrated in Tunisia. We are the people who marched in Egypt. We are the people who fought in Libya. Yet I sit in front of my valued piece of technology, sheltered from the ever bitter cold, sipping away at my warm skimmed milk.

Change always begins from the mind of one person. We cannot judge the rest of mankind for not immediately jumping on board. Rather, we can coax. And wait. And through that patience, we can supplicate, because the Malcolm X of this generation might just be your flatmate, playing FIFA, whom you have labeled as ‘Slacker’