Headline Oct 28, 2014/

''' POLITICS & DOTS '''

'' You know when you think what you wanted to do might not be what you wanted but you're doing it anyway because you still try to convince yourself that this is it,'' revealed a former pakistani student.

''That is how life after graduation is treating.''

Long conversations with her and several former students after graduation exposed a provocative insight: a  -broken system-  isn't the reason why most young educated Pakistanis can't pursue their dreams.

It's self-doubt, forcefully checked by social expectations, that punctures the ambitions of the of the brightest minds in Pakistan.  

The writer, whose writing I have quoted above  -M Bilal Lakhani, a recipient of the James A  Wechsler award for International Reporting is   - a graduate of  Columbia's University's  School of Journalism.

But allow me first, to return the second part of the ongoing post,  before I return to joining the dots.

Campaigning among expat voters is hard work.

Media appearances and public rallies that might swing domestic races are much less effective when an electorate is spread across national borders, said Yannick Naud:

A candidate in France's Northern Europe constituency, which includes migrants in Britain and nine other countries.

Much electioneering was vie e-mail lists provided by the French consulates, as well as through webcasts and social-media sites.

Migrant sending countries mostly cherish diasporas.

They hope wealthy and influential emigrants will do good at home. Providing parliamentary seats for compatriots abroad may rekindle loyalties.

But political representation has not prevented plummeting turnouts among Portuguese expats-

From 87% in 1976 to only 25% in 2005.

Only  70,000  of the  350,000  odd French thought to live in Britain have registered to vote in the constituency there, and Mr Balkany thinks-

That about a quarter of the voters he meets in France's North American constituency are unaware of its existence.

Some emigrants are homesick.

***Others are sick of home***.

Now, returning to the  opening passage, I return to some bitter truths that the writer discovers:

Eventually, a prolonged period of self-doubt can lead to a feeling of emptiness. This cycle can only be broken when we stop assigning ourselves grades versus our peers and- 

Start grading ourselves versus the objectives we've set for our life.

This takes an irrational amount of self-confidence in a society that can celebrate a

student who gets the most  A's in his O Levels class............

*** But detest a girl who won a  Nobel Prize at the same age***.

The Pakistan society rewards conformity     -appreciating trend followers. not trend setters.

A real revolution would see us challenging this conformity with an irrational amount of self-confidence.

But this great writer fails to complete his discovery and insights. And I do that for him, and I do it  with great respect:

''After self-doubt, feeling empty, and then, onwards to oblivion''.   

With respectful dedication to the Students of the world. See Ya all on !WOW! -the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

''' The Cracked Mirrors '''

'''Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless