The Orange Line train has been serving the public in Lahore for the last couple of years. Recently, I got the chance to travel on it as my vehicle was out of order. Being a literate person, I was easily able to manage all the activities at the station by following the instructions. But, despite all my efforts, I still looked like a first-timer at the station.
As I was inquiring about the different stations at the reception to find the one nearest to my location, a simple-looking man standing near me said, “Brother, I think you are traveling for the first time”. I said, Yes. The simple-looking man, who was a factory worker, took his ticket, entered the main area of the station, picked up the train and went away.
There is a perception among people that development for the elites is sustainable and effective while for the poor it is a waste of money. Similarly, it is said that the general public misuses facilities provided by the government while elites benefit from it and pay back to the government.
However, I observed from my interaction with that simple factory worker that it is training that matters and creates the difference. It is training that makes an ordinary man benefit from whatever facilities are available.
Despite being more educated and familiar with technology than the simple worker, I was reluctant and a little hesitant when I first traveled on the orange train, But, the simple-looking man managed all his activities smoothly and traveled towards his destination.
It serves a lesson that if training is given to the untrained, no matter who they are, they will become trained. Training is the most important thing in life.
This is just one aspect. In our lives, we lack training in every aspect of life.
Having said that, it is training that trains people, societies, and states to manage their actions. If the training is good, the outcome is good. So, all the focus should be on training because it matters the most.
The people of Pakistan are said to lack civic and political sense. People lack social and political wisdom. But, in reality, people have not been trained to develop social and political wisdom. It is said that the public is not aware of the importance of their opinion and vote. But, have we made them realize that their vote or opinion matters and has worth in the political crisis in the country? By depriving the public of basic democratic training, we cannot expect a miracle from them.
For example, as a result of the weak Local Governments, the public lacks basic democratic training. They are not trained to respect their vote and use it as a weapon of change. A smooth and effective LG system trains people to be democratic. It gives them political wisdom, awareness, and basic democratic training. People become familiar with democratic practices, develop sound opinions, and use their votes to select the best leaders.
In the absence of an effective LG system, people don’t get the opportunity to get acquainted with the basic democratic wisdom, electoral process, and basic training that makes them select suitable leaders according to their needs.
By not going through this training one cannot expect them to deliver. And, as a result, we see people selling their vote for cash or simply for a box of biryani. They lose faith in the process and lack political wisdom. This will continue unless we train them. Training is important. People have to pass through a training process to be able to deliver.
Similarly, training is also important for the peaceful co-existence of people in the country.
Some people spread hate while some love. The difference between them is the training. Those who have been trained to spread love will always spread love while untrained people will spread hate and will be used to spread hate. For people to co-exist in society, they need to be trained for that purpose.
Training makes people co-exist despite social, cultural, political, and ethnic differences and transforms an ordinary society into a progressive society. But, lack of proper training has resulted in rising extremism, and intolerance in the society.
To make people co-exist in a society, the government has to be the main training force and it can use different means to train people. A government can use education, equal social development, and other tools to bring people close and train them to co-exist.
Furthermore, training can help different states exist peacefully. Different states need to be trained to accept each other’s existence and invest in people instead of weapons. But, what is happening is the opposite. When a powerful state attacks a weaker state or shows aggression and other states stay silent, or support the aggressive state it sends a message that to survive all have to make themselves strong.
They get a reminder that they need to invest in weapons instead of people to survive. This results in a negative environment that supports the survival of the fittest.
Israel’s aggression on Gaza is one example. Thousands of men, women, children, and patients have died from the bombing. People are suffering from food shortages and disease outbreaks in Gaza but the war rages on giving a message to the world that the state which is powerful and is backed by powerful states can dictate terms.
This is the reason that we are living in a world where people will die from hunger but states will continue to spend on weapons and the reason is that they have been trained in a way that to survive they need to be powerful.
Having said that, it is training that trains people, societies, and states to manage their actions. If the training is good, the outcome is good. So, all the focus should be on training because it matters the most.
