“I’m sick and weary of being cooped up here. I’m tired of trying to go back into that beautiful world and stay there forever—not just longing for it and seeing it hazily through the walls of my hurting heart, but actually being there and part of it. Reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte”
Numerous literary works have explored the issue of the constant desire to withdraw into the comforts of another world. It has drawn people for centuries, even frightening them. They have survived on the faith that tomorrow will bring good news and spare the millions of suffering people from their current state of pain. This hope, in spite of constant disappointments, never dies. It consistently makes.
Even in the smallest cracks that it can find refuge in, it always finds a way to live. It takes care of itself to survive.
We appear to be caught up in a similar exchange between optimism and pessimism, swinging quickly between the two. It resembles a pendulum that never stops swinging, constantly piqueing people’s curiosity about positive changes in the world. This hope is applied like a salve. It is a healer of the innumerable wounds that people have sustained at the hands of the rulers who have come to control this nation. They have acted so regretfully and with such ruthlessness. No trace of guilt has ever been apparent.
We have also seen over the years how certain people come to represent the dreams and ambitions of others. However, their expectations were brutally and swiftly crushed, leaving them to begin searching for a different savior. They have been caught up in a never-ending cycle of suffering and dishonesty from one to the next. Nevertheless, optimism has managed to withstand the harshness of numerous similar afflictions.
Based on all previous standards, the level of optimism and fervor surrounding the results of the election on February 8 is unparalleled. It appears as though the day has been tinged with favorable omens that will change people’s destiny and illuminate paths leading to salvation.
They are clinging to it with an intensity that belies their desperation. Although passion is still a natural emotion for them, their desperation stems from the innumerable disappointments they have had in the past, when promises made did not come true, adding to the misery they already undergo. Patience appeared to give way in the process as one became enmeshed in a mountain of impossible scenarios. Still, the heart continues to race.
People are caught up in the interaction between growing optimism and impending uncertainties ten days before the election. It is the latter that is casting a shadow of doom, even as they cling to faith that they will eventually carve out a way to their redemption.
The route illuminated by hope is still engulfed in enough doubts to require a reality check. This interaction between hope and uncertainty is also influenced by a number of current events.
The most important question is whether free and fair elections will be held, or if political scheming will impede the process and benefit some at the expense of others. Although there has always been a hint of suffering associated with this procedure, the amount of rigging necessary this time to change the result would be enormous given the circumstances. Since the evidence suggests that one party will win by a landslide, using this element to change the outcome could spark dissatisfaction that could turn into violence.
However, everything suggests that a free and fair election is not going to happen. Since the illegal overthrow of the Imran Khan government, those in positions of authority have become blatantly biased in all of their actions. From snatching nomination papers from its candidates to kidnapping their proposers and seconders,
Every tactic in the book has been tried to prevent the PTI from running in the elections, from the protracted detention of hundreds of its employees to the forced disappearance of its leadership and their eventual conversion to support novel formulations thrown into the mix, to snatching nomination papers from its candidates and kidnapping their proposers and seconders to denying its workers a level playing field to engage in political activity.
However, there is something that prevents the manipulators from succeeding: the PTI adherents’ unwavering passion. They are out there promising their allegiance to Imran Khan and the party despite the horrific torture they have endured.
They are acting in this way because their homes have been broken into and robbed in the middle of the night on multiple occasions, their businesses have been destroyed, their accounts have been blocked, loved ones have been detained illegally for extended periods of time, and a constant sense of fear hangs over them. They wait for election day to cast their votes in hopes of changing the fate they have endured over countless years and several broken promises, but their passion is so strong that they are unwilling to give up.
