This is to the kid who played dead, the friend who helped his friend, the teacher who refused to open the door so her kids could be kept from the inevitable, the father who buried his son in the soil and went back to fight for his native land, the mother who smiled– the mother who SMILED and with tears said that her son has sacrificed his life for Pakistan and that he isn’t dead but he is in fact, a martyr. Martyrdom is a strong virtue, people!

This is also to the nation who grieves, its neighbors and other communities who have expressed their condolences in this time of need. To the people who gathered under the flag of humanity and put forward the message of solidarity and peace: There is no peace. And even though there is no peace, there once will be.

It’s been a long, tough struggle. And a painful, very painful tragedy. It is also the greatest example of inhumanity and cruelty, barbarism and terrorism. It is it. But it is not the end.

The only problem is that. It is not the end. Pakistan, like always, wills to stand again.

This time, however, the country is weak and tired. Like a person who has had a terrible car crash, or worse (and more realistically),  who has been bit by a snake in her sleeves, the country weeps and endures. It sits and looks at its stitches, so many since its first fall, and looks at the patches in its torn clothes. There are always patches, thanks to people who can’t give up. [And how do you give up when your own survival depends upon it..?]

This patient still breathes. It will breathe till the end of time if God so wills. Right now, though, all it needs is extra intensive care, especially and mostly from its own people!