Epidemic: Laziness & Impatience

There is a strange paradox in Pakistan. How do we manage to keep an equilibrium in productivity while being so lazy? We need to pick up the slack. People in the West are often amazed at how hard working average people from our parts are. That theory always brings a sheepish smile to my face. Little do they know of the real sons of Pakistan and our reluctance to hard work. Epitome of our generation may just be profound laziness.

Life for an average Pakistani is difficult. It becomes even more difficult when he has to deal with government services. Private firms save face here and mostly deliver the UPS on time. However, if like myself, you ever had to deal with government employees on a regular basis, you will have to admit how difficult it is to get something as simple as a stamp on a piece of paper. How obnoxious it is to talk to people who treat everyone according to their position in the hierarchy. Nothing is more annoying than being blatantly ignored by someone whose job it is to do the prescribed work you have for him. In fact, many sadists will bask in the joy of delivering bad news to you. That perplexed look of disbelief on your face is priceless! The worst is when you are sent on a fools errand.

A fool's errand is when you go to an office to get some work done. Only to find the most uncooperative incumbent. He directs you to someone else, and eventually you end up visiting ten different people. You'll waste time exchanging unnecessary pleasantries with a few, one person will just make you sit and wait for an hour before telling you he has no power to help you. An odd guy will lends his ear to your problem, not because he cares but because he is bored from his daily fecklessness. Another nice guy will feel sorry for you and tell you he understands your frustration but he's just the tea boy. Eventually, you'll have toured the entire office and in the process found a new route to square one. The tiniest of errands will end up taking an entire work day to get done.

Last summer, I was in Pakistan for medical flood relief efforts. On the first of our five day trip to Layyah in Southern Punjab, we were made to wait outside the local government office(s) for nearly 4 hours before someone gave us directions as to where we should head for camp. One of the volunteer doctor's in our team had given up practising medicine for a more lucrative career in insurance banking. A thoughtful individual he was, he quickly calculated the four hours of the day (8AM-12noon) that were wasted up to that point were in fact equivallent to 24 hours of medical aid wasted, as there were six of us medical doctors who waited aimlessly for four hours each. In a time of such a massive natural disaster, it made me sick to think that 24 hours of valuable help was lost due to laziness and incompetence. The saddest part is, nobody had any issues with this loss of work output that could have potentially saved a life or a few.

The paradox of it all is that out on the streets everyone is participating in the ultimate race of life. Impatient motorists deserve a special accolade here. It would make sense if everyone was in a hurry to get some work done, but that's untrue. Motorcyclists encroaching between your car and the one adjacent to it, often nudging the side rear view mirrors, leaving a nice scratch - all to gain an few feet head start at the lights. We're all in a big hurry to go and do absolutely nothing. How about quing up at the bank teller rather than creating a huddle around the booth? It would be nice to stand in a line, any line, without having someone breathing down your neck. There is an obvious lack of respect for personal space.

Often times people will say these problems are more prevalant in people of middle and lower socioeconomic class. I beg to differ, nothing annoys me more than seeing a crowd of sycophants and relatives on the other side of the jet bridge as you enter Pakistan off an international flight. So called VIP passengers being whisked by airport officials, shamelessly, they cut and prod past others waiting patiently in line at customs and immigration. The same folks who glorify the West, complain of the bigotry in Pakistan, sip martinis at Gymkhana, yes - the elitists who praise themselves for being different from the masses. They boast endlessly about the VIP treatment they receive at the airport and just about anywhere else. In all my years of travel in and out of Pakistan, I can safely say that the average wait time for majority passengers to exit the terminal after stepping off the air plane is probably the same as anywhere in the world, if not less. Still, that's not express enough for some people.

If you do any of the fore mentioned things, slap your wrist today and grow out of it. "Be the change you want to see in the world" (Gandhi)