Oh, Pakistan, We Hardly Know Ye

Somewhere, I read that due to the recent floods, one-fifth of Pakistan is under water.  And, the response to the call for aid has been a trickle.  There have been many theories voiced (these are ably summarized in a commentary piece by Mosharraf Zaidi on NPR) on why this is so, for a disaster that has affected more people than the Haitian earthquake in January, the tsunami of 2004 and many other natural disasters combined, all which might be true, and may not even be all inclusive of true reasons why and reasons given.  Let me elaborate on one.

We have no good idea who or what Pakistan is, who or what Pakistani are.  And, as Zaidi concludes, at the very least, that reason is a falsehood and to put it more squarely, it is an excuse, not a reason.  Americans, Indians, Brits and others around the world may know nothing else about Pakistan or Pakistani, except that these are fellow humans suffering from a natural disaster.  But, while compassion is a part of much of what distinguishes humans from other species, so is the ability to rationalize action and non-action.  In the Haitian situation, we can rationalize that this country had not been able to pull itself out of poverty in the best of times (with so much aid!), so we must do what we can to help them out, because what else is new?  I have always suspected that the tsunami-affected areas of Thailand, Indonesia, etc, were seen as these charming, sun-soaked, picturesque locales with rice paddies and bamboo-thatched roofs and wooden fishing boats pulled up alongside resort beaches where hardworking people work and with a little help, would be back on their feet in no time.  Pakistan, however, is neither.  It is betwixt and between, neither mineral nor vegetable nor animal.  We cannot understand them while they persist in needing to be understood.

Writing and reading has always been a good way to transfer knowledge of different cultures, whether that be gaining understanding of Pakistan by the United States or between New York and the rest of the world.