I had promised in my campaign speech for the presidency of the Brunel Afghan Society in 2006 that if elected, I would expand it beyond Brunel to make it a UK-wide association. But once I actually got elected, I realized I had no idea how to fulfil my promise and I was doubtful I had the time and skills to do so. What made it more of a challenge was that I got an internship that year in Swindon about 80 miles away from the university. It was challenging to keep a job, and recreate an organisation remotely. Despite my own fears and doubts, I ended up making the best of my situation and succeeded in creating what is now called the Afghan Student’s Association UK (ASAUK). In part due to a speech I heard.
A friend who was my class mate, house mate and a colleague that year, with whom I discussed life philosophies over many nights of procrastination at university labs, introduced me to Steve Jobs’ commencement speech at Stanford University delivered in 2005. I never was a Mac person and still am not – the only Apple product I use now is my iPhone--so I did not know who Steve Jobs was at that time. Regardless, the speech had a profound effect on me and I keep going back to it to this day—I find it applies to lots of life situations. In his speech, Jobs’ primary point is that if you haven’t found what you are looking for in life, you must keep looking and never settle. He used his battle with cancer as one analogy to prove his point—he said he won his battle with cancer and was in remission.
The last few months of Afghan political turmoil had been drawing a shadow of doubt and fear in my mind. There is a running joke between some of my friends and I about how Afghans have survived three decades of war—we tend to blame our problems on the wars, and use it as an excuse to never take responsibility for and control of our own future. Though we laugh, we need to realize that the past cannot be undone, and there is no point dwelling on it or never making an effort to escape its grasp. The situation in Afghanistan is shadowy and the future is not looking very bright—there is a strong possibility of a civil war.
Several years after first hearing Jobs’ Stanford speech, I read his biography which revealed that during that speech, he actually still had cancer and was going through treatment for it. What struck me was that despite the cancer, he continued doing what he was passionate about and didn’t want sympathy for what nature had bestowed upon him. Jobs refused to settle for defeat to cancer. It made me revisit his theory and I felt shame for having initially accepted defeat by having doubt. Our human nature makes us blame our circumstances or situation for what in fact is our own self-doubt and fear; thus, we declare ourselves powerless to take control, and we settle for what we take for granted as our fate.
The possibility of civil war can only become certain if and when we, as Afghans, settle for it—when we succumb to the doubts, fear, and turmoil that would lead to civil war. There is still time to take responsibility and control, and not stand by powerlessly. We can still change the future. True, fighting is easy to do, but talking is easier, and that is the first step to peace. The past belongs to the generations before us but the future belongs to us and it is us who will be blamed or praised for how we shape that future. We can learn from the experiences of the previous generation but not without putting it under a moral microscope, to make sure we don’t repeat the mistakes they committed, and to improve on what they did right. The answers are not easy to find—we must create them. So let’s keep looking and not settle.
A friend who was my class mate, house mate and a colleague that year, with whom I discussed life philosophies over many nights of procrastination at university labs, introduced me to Steve Jobs’ commencement speech at Stanford University delivered in 2005. I never was a Mac person and still am not – the only Apple product I use now is my iPhone--so I did not know who Steve Jobs was at that time. Regardless, the speech had a profound effect on me and I keep going back to it to this day—I find it applies to lots of life situations. In his speech, Jobs’ primary point is that if you haven’t found what you are looking for in life, you must keep looking and never settle. He used his battle with cancer as one analogy to prove his point—he said he won his battle with cancer and was in remission.
The last few months of Afghan political turmoil had been drawing a shadow of doubt and fear in my mind. There is a running joke between some of my friends and I about how Afghans have survived three decades of war—we tend to blame our problems on the wars, and use it as an excuse to never take responsibility for and control of our own future. Though we laugh, we need to realize that the past cannot be undone, and there is no point dwelling on it or never making an effort to escape its grasp. The situation in Afghanistan is shadowy and the future is not looking very bright—there is a strong possibility of a civil war.
Several years after first hearing Jobs’ Stanford speech, I read his biography which revealed that during that speech, he actually still had cancer and was going through treatment for it. What struck me was that despite the cancer, he continued doing what he was passionate about and didn’t want sympathy for what nature had bestowed upon him. Jobs refused to settle for defeat to cancer. It made me revisit his theory and I felt shame for having initially accepted defeat by having doubt. Our human nature makes us blame our circumstances or situation for what in fact is our own self-doubt and fear; thus, we declare ourselves powerless to take control, and we settle for what we take for granted as our fate.
The possibility of civil war can only become certain if and when we, as Afghans, settle for it—when we succumb to the doubts, fear, and turmoil that would lead to civil war. There is still time to take responsibility and control, and not stand by powerlessly. We can still change the future. True, fighting is easy to do, but talking is easier, and that is the first step to peace. The past belongs to the generations before us but the future belongs to us and it is us who will be blamed or praised for how we shape that future. We can learn from the experiences of the previous generation but not without putting it under a moral microscope, to make sure we don’t repeat the mistakes they committed, and to improve on what they did right. The answers are not easy to find—we must create them. So let’s keep looking and not settle.
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