The business of planting an orchard does not begin
with the holding of an orchard conference. No,
indeed. It begins by obtaining seedlings and
providing every single one with such favourable
conditions as will enable it to develop its potential
and grow into a fully developed tree. When one has
done this with innumerable seedlings, one can then
expect to have an orchard.
In this respect, a nation is somewhat like an
orchard. Build the individual and you build the
nation. If hidden potential is to be developed, it
takes education, encouragement, and the provision
of a proper environment at an individual level very
early on in the whole process, just as a sapling must
be put into well prepared ground and given the
right type and quantity of nutrients, water, sunlight,
etc. If people are properly instructed, while they are
still young and receptive and by people who adopt
a caring, positive attitude, they develop a healthy
awareness of what their commitments to society
should be and what it means to be part of a nation.
If callow youths are to be turned into real men, they
have to have the feeling inculcated in them that to
achieve positive ends they must continually keep
up a peaceful and ameliorative struggle, one which
will create harmony and eschew conflict, one which
will solve, and not create problems for their fellow
men.
Although we must accept the fact that this is a
highly competitive world, there is nothing to
prevent us from endeavouring to cooperate with
and encourage cooperation from others. If we stand
shoulder to shoulder with our fellow men in the
face of the most heartless rivalries, there is no
obstacle that we cannot overcome, no peril that we
cannot face. But if we do not see to it that such ideas
are propagated and accepted among people in their
formative years, we cannot expect to find many
who will be willing to cooperate. No matter how
basically good the fruit trees in our orchard are,
they will not blossom and bear fruit unless they are
consistently well tended.
--Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
( Ref - The Moral Vision)
