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South Asian Initiative at Harvard organized a wonderful event "The Millenium Generation of Diaspora" to celebrate our 35th anniversary of Bangladeshi Independence. Among other things, they showed us "Deshantor", a documentary about Bangladeshi people desperately looking for a way to get out of this country. There was humor here and there, but the message was a sad one. Most Bangladeshis, including myself, don't believe that people could really do much to have a nice life in Bangladesh.
The root causes of all the tribulations in Bangladesh are few and could be alleviated if only we had willing people to make a change. Our political leaders treat our country as if it is their private property. They exploit our poor and hungry people, even the kids. These kids are so poor that they are willing to get involved in armed fights and risk their lives for meager sums of money. We could have an educated new generation, who would respect life. What our political leaders do is a crime against humanity. These leaders use our poor people's vulnerability for power.
Bangladesh has talent. Bangladesh has people, good people. Bangladesh has "desperate" people that are willing to set on a journey through the desert to make a new life. Bangladesh has desperate people that are willing to get on the wheel of the airplane only to die as soon as the plane takes off. We have willing people that are willing to bring about a change. What do we not have?
We don't have honest leaders. Leaders are deluded by the greed of power. They are so blinded by their greed that they don't care about children dying when they call for a strike and not even an ambulance can go through. They are so blinded that they are immune to the fact that so people die due to their unnecessary riots.
All this time we made excuses for our sorry selves about not being able to progress because of colonialism, or the Pakistani oppression. We have been independent for 35 years, and who can we blame for our own misery other than ourselves? Why do we, purposefully, hold our nation back from progressing? Whose ego are we feeding here?
How can we tolerate that we are known only for our corruption, hunger, poverty and flood? Couldn't we do better? If Bangladeshi people come abroad and make such great engineers, doctors, teachers, professors, researchers, why couldn't we advance our own country?
Why can't our political leaders stop calling for strikes? Who are they striking other than ourselves? Why can't we stop our violent riots? Who are we killing other than our own brothers and sisters? Who are the enemies here? I think about all that, and I can't find an answer.
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Writer Profile
s. k.
Being born and raised in Bangladesh, I am deeply in love with this country. Even though, I have left the country years ago, I still look for avenues to go back. However, before I do go back, I want to make sure that I have enough credentials to do something for this country.
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Comments
michelle digolo | Dec 19th, 2006
i love this article i have saved it to have it read for my school
michelle digolo | Dec 19th, 2006
i love this article i have saved it to have it read for my school
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