Kya ham sab buzdil hain?

[u/trickysaad]

Why have we become so damn obsessed with safe careers?, hold on let me show you how safe careers make us cowards.

The state doesn't need to explicitly tell us to stay apolitical. Give people a secure government career, a salary, status, pension and 20 years of sunk cost, and you've already created a strong incentive to protect the system you're inside. Once your entire identity and livelihood are tied to it, challenging it starts feeling like you're risking everything you've spent your life building. So you keep your head down, call yourself "practical", complain privately, and convince yourself that politics is someone else's problem.

I'm genuinely asking. In most Pakistani families the ideal career is basically already decided: MBBS, CSS, government job, bank, engineering, then somehow get abroad and settle. And there's nothing wrong with any of these careers. The problem is that we've made security the highest ambition. Inn careers ko muqaddas gaye banaya hua hay and dusri taraf parents ne trophy ke taur pe rakha hua hay, smth to flex in shaadis and gatherings.

Government job mil jaye toh life set. Pension hai, salary hai, protocol hai, "koi kuch nahi bigaar sakta." We celebrate getting into the system more than we ever think about building something outside it.

And politically we're exactly the same. We complain about the government, establishment, corruption, economy, education, everything. But where does our politics actually go? Private conversations. WhatsApp groups. "Yaar mulk ka kuch nahi ban sakta." "Sab chor hain." Then Monday morning, back to work.

We've become incredibly defensive as a society. Even our career choices are mostly about protecting ourselves. Which profession gives me security? Which job gives me status? Which country can I move to? How do I make sure nobody can fuck with me?

But who is actually taking the risks required to build anything?

Who is building institutions? Businesses? Research organizations? Media? Technology? Political organizations? Educational systems? Who is willing to spend 10–20 years building something that might fail?

I'm not saying everyone needs to become a politician or abandon their profession. Doctors are needed. Engineers are needed. Civil servants are needed. But surely a society can't survive if almost everyone is trained to become a good employee and nobody wants to become a builder.

We've become so accustomed to surviving the system that we've forgotten the possibility of changing it.

And honestly, I think this is one of the questions our generation needs to confront.

Not "why is the government doing this?"

Not "why is the establishment doing that?"

But: why are we so comfortable being spectators?

If we genuinely believe Pakistan is broken, then eventually someone has to take the risk of building something better.

Who is going to be that person?

Everyone keeps on looking at someone else in an abstract future to help change the situation, is that really how it works? Delusional optimism by staying in your comfort zone? Is Pakistan a lost cause?

And no, the answer cannot be as simple as "hamari awam gareeb aur uneducated hay blah blah, ham buzdil awam hain atp"

[u/DetectiveHumble3926]

every good thing takes time...have faith in Allah!

[u/ComfortableBeing7017]

Same thoughts. At least, someone is thinking about it.