I am an exuberant man at the end of this weekend. It took
me only three weeks to get my first contribution
published in a US newspaper. The
Arizona Republic
published my
letter to the editor
which I had jotted down in response to
a news report
published in the paper about the current
floods in Pakistan.
What actually enticed me to dash off the letter were the condescending views expressed by some of the readers vis-à-vis American assistance to Pakistan in the wake of the catastrophic floods. They argued that the US government should not assist the flood victims in Pakistan and this task, they ridiculously insinuated, should be given to bin Landin to fulfill.
In response I, while acknowledging the corrupt nature of the
government of Pakistan, pleaded that the innocent women and
children must not be “punished” only because of
the sins of the politicians.
“ It is not time to play politics,” I wrote.
My letter to the editor did not end the controversy but, on
the contrary, further flared the entire issue up to a great
extent. More readers commented and expressed their points of
view. A thumping majority of people were deadly opposed to
any kind of assistance provided to Pakistani flood
survivors.
For a moment, I was utterly flabbergasted over the unanticipated indifferent behavior of some of the American readers. I wondered how they gathered the spunk to publicly say that the flood victims should die of starvation because their politicians sinned regularly.
It was end of imagination.
It was the inception of hope.
I immediately saw a bacon of long-term hope the next day.
The State Press, a newspaper brought out by ASU students, did not only
editorialize Pakistan’s worst floods
but also passionately enjoined all the ASU students and
faculty members to “Help a nation out”.
This was indeed the younger America speaking. I was deeply
touched by State Press editorial which dramatically
changed my perceptions about the American youth. I am
ecstatic to assume that the younger Americans are more
interested in knowing about the rest of the world and
bridging gaps between different cultures. Previously, I had
assumed the American youth perhaps took no interest at all
in the developments, either positive or negative, taking
place across the world.
Thus, the next day I sat before
Indra ekmanis, the young Managing Editor of the State Press, at
their newsroom in the basement of the
Matthews Center
in Tempe Campus. Along with another colleague of hers, the
American editor of a campus newspaper seemed very jubilant
to have a foreign journalist among them.
They said they were “very very interested” to
know about my county and culture. They were so different
from the hateful commentators I had encountered on the
website of the Arizona Republic.
“ Is it possible for you to share your knowledge and
experiences with our team of journalists and editors?” asked
Indra, “ We are in fact a team of young and inexperienced
people. Your willingness to speak about your country’s
media system will remarkably help us understand the system
there.”
I gleefully replied and assured that I would always be
pleased to meet their team members to share my knowledge
about the media, history, culture and government of Pakistan
and its neighboring countries.
On my way back to the
Cronkite School of Journalism, I kept on thinking and whispered to myself , “ boy, first
impression (which I had from the
Arizona Republic commentators) is not always the
last impression.”
