These thoughts I’m putting on paper are not new, they are not unique per se nor are they from this era. These thoughts are exactly the same ones you may have already had, yet still for unknown reasons don’t stand by or grasped the full impact that its effects will have on our future. These thoughts are to be collected so we can benefit from them and we need to start collecting and actioning them now.
To continue this series, I wanted to give you an idea of our approach to the future, as we are perceived now and how we shall be in next generation to come.
Collecting knowledge:
For the love of your nation, educate yourself.
I have always loved the idea of education, the environment of a school and the excitement of learning. Education for me is a tool I can be motivated by, so that someday I too can teach and aid the path for the next coming generation on what I found and learnt in my life with the building stones I received from education.
To increase these building stones we need proper education for all Kurds, now you are thinking “but we have education in Kurdistan”, you are right we do, but let me tell you something you might already know…
Education is the thoughts you create on your own, it is true that a teacher motivates you and guides you along the right path but it is your own responsibility to lay the foundations of the road ahead. In Kurdistan the youth are being brainwashed by things foreign to their way of life, we can’t help the effects of globalization but at the same time we can’t shy away from the negative effects it is producing.
To give you an idea of what I’m babbling on about, I shall share with you a story that my old professor once shared with me. With time, my professor and I became good friends, so much so that he would often join myself and my family at the dinner table. My professor was intrigued about life in South (Basur) Kurdistan, so one day he decided to embark on a friendly visit to the cities of Kerkuk, Hawler, Duhok and anywhere else nearby that the road would take him. Upon his return, I asked him what his thoughts were on our youth and what the future will bring for them, he answered me with a life experience of his.
In the 70’s he lived in Iran for 3 years and worked on behalf of the Dutch government on rebuilding farm lands, during those days he befriended an Iranian teacher. One day his Dutch and American colleagues sat down to have a chat, one of them began to mention that the Iranians are buying more FM transmitters and that they will profit from them, he spoke positive of this turn of events as he was saying that it will enrich their country.
The Iranian teacher angrily stood up and said “we don’t need your FM transmitters and your fancy cars”. My professor then began to question him and why he would think like that, he then asked him “don’t you think that it will bring more knowledge to Iran and it’s citizens?”
The Iranian teacher replied “As a nation that is finding itself again, we don’t need anything that we did not make on our own or aren’t able to make ourselves. It’s true that the farmers are getting richer and have more money to spend, but instead of spending that money to send their children to school they are buying your FM transmitters and cars, because you are all parading in them and the children that are going to school are so distracted from this they are losing their own train of thoughts.”
While visiting South Kurdistan, my professor didn’t like that our youth are spending their money and valuable time on phones, cars and things that they could have lived without five years ago. Instead of attending school and improving themselves and their nation that is still finding itself – they are focused on finishing their education quickly to then get any job that will finance them to further distractions like the new technology that they don’t currently have.
As a Student, it is extremely important to make sure that you have your own purpose and trail of thoughts, combined with what you have learnt from the four corners of your classroom you can become a great asset to your nation. A country that has great intellects is a country that can stand strong amongst other nations in the world. It is through the progress of our intellects that we will be empowered to stand with a clearer vision, only then can our ideas and our actions endure the effects of this big bad world; only then can we become an asset to the world and enable others to see us equally.
To the youth of Kurdistan, the latest model iPhone or the newest car doesn’t increase your self-value to your surroundings nor does it cement your place in the world. Do not be a follower, but create, motivate, build and unify. Take advantage of the education opportunities surrounding you, only through knowledge and correct education can you increase your own value. You too can become an asset to the world.