Life

Life is precious for everyone. Enjoy and value every bit of it as life once lost is lost forever! If you are rich, value your money and don’t be arrogant. Also don’t underestimate the ones who aren’t rich like you. Value your loved ones and no matter how tough your life is, consider yourself lucky as you are blessed with a priceless thing called ‘life’.

Eisha Malik

Inflation and Ramazan

Ramazan is just around the corner and we can only hope that the newly-elected government will address the issue of inflation that has been plaguing our country for years. Besides inflation, other issues such as load-shedding, illiteracy and unfair distribution of resources have also made survival difficult for the common man. If the newly-formed government takes immediate steps to lower the price of edible goods as well as electricity and gas charges along with the assurance of less load-shedding, one can hope that the coming Ramazan will really be a month of blessings .

Beebagr Tarique Gurgaij,

Turbat, Kech

Child labour

Child labour is an intricate issue especially for developing countries like Pakistan where there is no protection for people’s rights, let alone children’s rights. But more importantly, the use of child labour in the textile and sports goods industries of Pakistan has been a source of serious concern for the country over the past few years. Poverty is by far the most important reason for children to work in Pakistan’s manufacturing industry. The inefficiency of the system of education leads to children going to work rather than to schools. The educational facilities available in small cities of the country are so poor and insufficient that parents have no motivation to send their children to schools so they prefer sending their children to work in the factories. There have been numerous programmes to eradicate child labour and various measures taken by NGOs for protection of children’s rights; but other than some instances, the problem of implementation of these programmes persists.

Mehwish Khan,

Karachi

Two little words

Sometimes saying thanks or expressing gratitude seems useless to us. We think that thanking somebody might hurt our ego or may damage our self-esteem. This paradigm is wrong, for a giving nature ensures that you’ll receive more and more! I avoided thanking anybody if they helped me. I thought, “Why should I thank? They did it because they wanted to. There is no way I would humble myself and thank them for their aid!” But I was wrong! Gratitude is the best insurance you have for receiving more blessings. As I never thanked anybody, I soon realised that I wasn’t getting it myself and it felt as if I was missing out a component that was blocking my blessings. The component was gratitude. Believe me, the more thanks I gave, the more I received. And that is what counts because God loves gratitude and those who offer it. Don’t make the excuse that ‘I have nothing to thank for’. Think about the five senses God has given you and about your parents, the greatest gift a child could ask for. The air you breathe, the water you drink; there is so much we need to be grateful for.

Sarah Hasan,

Karachi