close
Thursday April 25, 2024

Philanthropists – a ray of hopefor Covid-19, lockdown victims

By Shahab Ansari
April 06, 2020

LAHORE :The economically affluent & God-fearing Pakistani philanthropists, the blessed & kind-hearted nature and their unmatched love for humanity in the times of trouble is the biggest ray of hope for millions of distressed Pakistanis being crushed by the devastating effects of Covid-19 and the lockdown related to it.

Hour after hour, day after day, we find people dying in every part of the world at the hands of the menace, Covid-19. Thousands of men, women and children are dying daily and millions are being affected on hourly basis. Perhaps, man has never been so helpless, so miserably trounced by any other tragedy in the recent history. Besides the most tragic loss of human lives, there has been many casualties of various significant cultural & traditional aspects of human lives i.e. social contact & gatherings, sharing grieves and coming out in the open to lend a hand to the ones in distress in physical terms. Some say that the man tried to impose a "New World Order" on other humans but God had His own plans. Now, He has imposed His own New Works Order which is actually "God's Works Order", so to speak.

To the advocates of God's New World Order, the world can only get out of this calamity by obeying God's Orders to the last letter. Amid various physical, socio-economic & psychological ramifications of the deadly virus all around the world, Pakistan is no exception to the prevailing hard times. There are millions of families running from pillar-to-post for a one time meal and one can see hundreds of people gathered outside the homes of the rich and kind-hearted who have been trying to help out their needy brethren by distributing food items, predominantly flour all around the country, including the provincial metropolis. Nevertheless, with the ever-increasing number of Covid-19 affected people, the number of economically hard-pressed families is also getting out of proportions in the city of the lively-hearted and its suburban areas. Late at night, dozens of needy families can be seen sitting along the roadside curbstones on Canal Road and in different parts of the city, waiting quietly in anticipation for someone rich to notice and help them. Many a families, predominantly, jobless blue, even white-collar ones have literally come out on the roads.

Despite its all-out effort, the government alone cannot perform the herculean task of providing everyone meals at their doorsteps. In this situation, it is the religious and national responsibility of every Pakistani who can afford to donate even a one time meal, to come forward to help their fellow beings in need.