Even in 2024, I think of hope. If you must think of it, there’s no point in thinking of despair after all. The human race has always dreamt of a better and greater life. But that dream has never been fully achieved. And since it never happened, people weave dreams anew and move forward afresh.
Things that we are thinking and feeling depressed about sitting inside of our own homes now, some middle class person like us sitting in a corner of a house in London back in 1890 thought the same. We never achieved a prosperous life at once. But we dreamt of a prosperous life.
This served two purposes; 1. It didn’t let us fall so easily. The fall might have happened already, but a resistance was built up against the fall and, 2. We have made silent progress.
An era is progressing does not mean all the people of that era have become great or noble. It means some people of that era have progressed. And with the light from their progress, that era also progresses to some extent.
When we list Shakespeare, Milton, Byron, Shelly, Keats as if seems they all came within a period of 50 years. But that’s not true. It had taken a long time, very long. They had to cross many bridges of history.
If a hundred geniuses have come out of Oxford or Cambridge, it didn’t happen overnight. We think that it happened within 50 or 100 years. But it’s not like that. It took a thousand years. Actually, there is never a good time. But the desire for a good time has given birth to greater souls.
It’s not just the desire though. There’s a dream of the era also. For example, the anti-British dream gave birth to prominent figures in many areas and not just in politics back in that era. This way we have made progress and regress in the present day. But I believe, the scale of progress weighs heavier.
We have had falls also. Today, the whole world is running after riches. Everyone will be solvent. Everyone will at least lead a life free of poverty. There will be many ethical downfalls from blindly racing after the riches. This is the rule, while one bank of the river gets formed the other gets eroded.
While we’ll get something magnificent in an era, we’ll lose many great things in return. Then moving forward we’ll see that some other things have arrived already. Things we had considered huge at a time, we’ll find out later that they weren’t that huge after all.
In 2023, more than 8,000 children have died in Gaza. There’s nothing sadder than this at this moment. The world must stop this crime. There has to be protest and resistance. Then when it comes to 100 years of records, we’ll think that 250,000 (2.5 lakh) people were killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Plus, 70 to 80 million (7 to 8 crore) people have died in the World War II.
While war made the main headlines last year, when it’s weighed against the scale of 200 years we seem to be living in a world almost free of wars. Earlier, every country used to fight with another while all the European countries used to try destroying the others. That divided Europe has now turned into a united one.
How much better it would have been if peace would prevail in the Middle East and there wouldn’t be a war in Ukraine! I don’t believe in what ifs. There’s a proverb, “With ‘Ifs’ one could put Paris in a bottle.”
I say, when we are born already we have to move forward indeed. I had written in one of my writings, is the human body is made to move forward or backward.
Then why are our eyes, nose and mouth are placed on the front? We’ll move our arms and legs forward, that’s how the body is constructed. If you wish or need to, a step can be taken backwards. But that’s temporary. Actually, the whole existence is made to move forward.
We’ll work because work means progress after all. This whole universe is moving forward, because each of the planets and the stars has been working relentlessly. Wherever he goes, he moves forward. No matter which way they go, they will move forward only.
Then should we talk about negative things or talk of hope in a new year! We’ll talk about hope and look forward. And we’ll keep working every moment and work relentlessly to build the future. There’s no such thing as ifs, whatever we’ll do exactly that will be happening, if we don’t do anything it won’t happen!
* Abdullah Abu Sayeed is an author and the founder of Bishwa Sahitya Kendra
* This article appeared in the print and online versions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Nourin Ahmed Monisha