Afghanistan Times
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Afghanistan made history with first cricket world cup win. This historic win was celebrated across the country. The win, amazingly, united Afghans in national pride, a thing we desperately need. Congratulations to the entire nation on this first and biggest win. This first win that how Scotland was drubbed by blue tigers by one wicket with just three balls remaining will be remembered for longer as it is something extra-ordinary for a nation that rarely has seen such grand occasions of national happiness in its past thirty-plus years history. The impetus of the win has been so powerful that many cricket fans broke into tears. However, at the same time the celebration was so wild that it left several people injured. Several photos of cricket freaks went viral on social networking websites where one could easily see their love for the country and their national cricket team. Their eyes were wet while their faces were glowing because of happiness. Nevertheless, there are no photos of those whose eyes were wet because their loved ones were wounded in the wild celebration in Jalalabad, over cricket win. Celebratory gunfire turned the happy mood into sour one. Celebratory gunfire has been blamed for deaths around the world, but why it is becoming an Afghan phenomenon. Are we wild in celebrations too? Why some people take up arms for celebrations even cognizant with the dangers of a bullet that may cause? Do such people have the right to celebrate? Though, it is, undeniably, an emphatic way to express one’s jubilation and extreme happiness, but expressing it with shooting guns into the sky is no more a practice of civilized world. It’s fatal. It has always caused deaths. Instances of fatalities because of celebratory gunfire are rife, but too few give attention to it when the country celebrates some national events and achievements. Now the government will have to do something—something that could put an end to celebratory gunfire. Penalties, arrests and guns confiscations should be introduced. And if there are any, they should be implemented seriously. In T.S Elliot words we are the hollow men. We are the stuffed men. Violent souls, but only as the hollow men, the stuffed men. T.S Elliot (Sept. 26, 1888) may have said these lines for the decaying society of his time, however looking at our current day society, the words still look quite relevant. When celebration could be done by dancing, biking, hoisting flags then why to turn toward gunfire? Or our irony as a nation is that in this valley of dying stars we don’t have the eyes—the eyes that could lead us in a right direction. Why our twinkling stars die before the age they become fully dazzling. Sometimes they die in IED blasts. Sometimes in road traffic accidents and sometimes in aerial firing. Reveling in the sports wins is fair until it doesn’t ends up on taking away invaluable human lives. Therefore, we need maturity, be it politics, war, or celebrations.
