Dissent

“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him in so far as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.”  ― Theodore Roosevelt

"Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides."   Lao Tzu

Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.  ___ _Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world...would do this, it would change the earth.”  ―  William Faulkner

Dear Second-hand Diary ... Because I can’t afford a new one, as today is the end of another month where I haven’t been paid. Sometimes my ex-wife asks me why I never got a proper job. All your friends are making a lot more money than you, she used to say, but you had to become a journalist. I told her I can’t help it — I have a passion for the truth, and the truth is I wasn’t qualified to do anything else. The job is demanding. My editor says I should listen to a lot of people without giving my own opinion, but as a Pakistani, that is impossible to do. The job is dangerous too. I have to go to conflict areas, such as Lyari, Waziristan and the National Assembly. Covering the Parliament is not fun, unless I can cover it in tarpaulin. Sometimes I have to go and ask people how it felt being trapped under debris or caught in a bomb blast. To my surprise, none of them say it was ‘kind of nice, actually’. Other times, I have to revisit sites of great tragedy and do live shots about

"Happiness radiates like the fragrance from a flower and draws all good things towards you."      _Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Bring it on. Dissent is central to any democracy.                                     Harry Belafonte