Are we visionaries? Have we plotted out our course ever? Constantly, questioning ourselves, have we ever done something to pursue our dreams? Our youth, at present, live without one, unfortunately. Middle class plus the youth, are fuelling economies at the price of their dreams? Reason? They believe that dreams die as soon as they leave college and enter the real world.

Colleges, unfortunately are no more builders of our personalities they are just a door to job market. Once on the job, the cycle of self destruction starts. They become the fodder, fuelling the dreams of selfish, self serving economic forces and then compelling social and cultural demands of society and the family. With the price of dreams, one buys the non ending cycle of sustenance, the famous heritage.

Now the question comes how to stop this trend and reverse the tide towards strengthening the country. Firstly, research your passion and strike it and secondly in our opinion we can not expect a Country or Nation to give any thing to us unless we are ready to give a lot unconditionally to it. As JFK said “Do not ask what the country can do for you but think what you can do for your country”. Unless we change the way we think about us and our country in the right perspective, neither we nor our country will ever be strong and free.

Let us start with a very modest aim of helping Pakistan by buying the Pakistani products where the choice is between its product(s) and the products of any other country. Let us consciously start looking for Pakistani products and if we do not find them on the shelves of our neighborhood groceries then at least start asking for them.

Make a commitment to deliberately spending10% of monthly’s shopping budget on Pakistani products.

For every Dhs. 500 purchases, Dhs.50 should be apportioned for Pakistani products. With inflation, still we can manage. Dhs. 50, which cannot pay our installments of the car, credit cards or buy a ticket for vacationer abroad. Does this make some sense? It should as it is achievable.

With this trend picking up, we are supporting many factories back in Pakistan to churn out more products employing more Pakistanis and getting to pay more wages to our brother back home. Thus indirectly remitting your income to Pakistan.

Other nations are doing this. Spinneys is one good example and so are the chains of our neighbor who are doing the roaring business due the support of their local population.

We urge you to promote economy, step by step by taking the following steps and for the first time think as Pakistanis. In this regards the following should be done immediately and deliberately

Are we committed to uplift our Pakistan and follow our passion, although in limited first? Can we come on one platform of supporting our products? A meek yes should be there. Pakistan Association is the Venue, our launching pad to do this and other great thing if we all are up to it, we would see ‘other’ products jettisoning. Join in the effort to lift our nation. It is not an emotional appeal. It is the necessity of the time. And no space for excuses.

Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"

He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"

Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, 'Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.' I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life."

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life."

I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center.

After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.

I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.
Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, 'He's a dead man.'

"I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breathe and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them. 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

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Note: This article is reproduced without any change with heavy gratitude to the writer.

By Francie Baltazar-Schwartz

Making a bad career choice is almost as bad as making a bad choice of one's life companion, though we can always leave our job and find another one, job security and other factors may make us stick with it with compromising career jobs, causing us to live miserable life, a life with diminishing options and dreams therefore choosing a career is a crucial decision making milestone to make in one’s life. Prosperity commands decision making and a wrong decision is cemented, disrupts the realm of life. That cemented fact is compromise. Career or Compromise, one has to choose. Passion or compromise, one has to choose.

In one’s career choice the following are the four most important factors worth considering

The first factor is that one must work or concentrate a fraction of energies in an area one has a passion for, is most important for mental and spiritual confidence.

Where one can look forward with optimism. Work of passion, never makes one to wait for results; it’s the result of doing out of which the self-satiety is drawn. Moreover where one has liberty to creativity. A passionate career, hard-working soul is what is the basic appetizing ingredient of what we all are here – success. Rome was not made in a day; so doesn’t success come the next day. Rigorous research and self exploration is another key to dig out the most – wanted and craved passion.

The second factor is that the area of the passionate work must challenge the passion; which in turn casts the intention the willing soul into the grueling fire of challenge; this is where Picassos, Al Pacinos, Gulgees, Ashfaq Ahmeds, Imran Khans, Fatima Jinnahs and Jinnahs are found. Light up the fire of passion, discover it and then let it loose for itself to devour the shortcomings in capabilities. Passion when wrested can never flourish but flounder.

People who work on passion, NEVER go door to door looking for jobs, rather companies come to them and that is where they

command fiscal prosperity. Key? Passionate work you dreamed of doing.

The third factor is that one would like to work in an area that would be close to one’s living area, pleasant atmosphere, and in the developed side of the city. Naturally a person would work harder in a place where competition level is high.

The fourth factor is to be aware of, what affect my work is giving to the people of this world, and the work one is planning to do. Would it benefit other people?

I am of the opinion that no one should make a choice of a career quickly. He should decide what he wants him the long run. Then he should decide how to get there and work towards it. He should attend the correct courses, read the correct books and speak to the knowledgeable persons before making a career choice. A bad choice will lead to a miserable life, regret and perhaps requiring drastic change later on.