Opining to Restore Optimism

Like many youth today, I left Nepal about three years ago because I thought that there was no hope for a better future. Almost everyone I talked to advised me to leave the nation and to look for opportunities in a 1st world country. I was told that a nation that had dethroned its monarchy peacefully and calmly suffered the loss of its, then beloved, royal family is a place of solemn hopelessness.

It is not surprising to anyone that I left with the aspirations that I would make my dreams come true in a different land. There are many youth like me who had a similar experience and most of us thought that it was necessary to abandon our nation and start a new life elsewhere. I have to admit that I was, in fact, disillusioned about Nepal’s future. I had underestimated the courage and persistence of my fellow Nepalese. I had forgotten that it is a nation where a mother in a remote village gives birth to her new child even after she has already lost five of her other children. It is a nation which dares to send its young daughters/sons to a foreign land to find opportunities and to fulfill their own version of the Nepalese dream. It is a nation where citizens dare to live in one of the world’s worst political and economic climate, and still hope for a better future.

However, many youth still think that there is no hope for Nepal; that we can’t do anything anymore. The pessimism has reached its pinnacle. Nepal’s brightest and best children are leaving the nation. They are leaving behind their own motherland in the hands of our uninformed, uncultured and self-declared leaders. We are letting the people suffer and the nation bleed. We are almost making the same mistake that the generation before us did. We are trying to take a more convenient path and hesitate to take risks. It would be a genteel understatement to say that we are not making any noise or daring to do something positive for Nepal. However, we can no longer just be a nation full of noises. We cannot afford to merely listen to the elders. Or follow the dogma. Or be content in accepting the fact that Nepal is not the light at the end of the tunnel. 

We can learn a lesson from the teachings of Lord Buddha. He once said, “Believe nothing, oh monks, merely because you have been told it, or because it is traditional, or because you yourselves have imagined it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatever after due examination and analysis, you find to be conducive to the good, the benefit, or the welfare of all beings that doctrine clings to, and take it as your guide.” For the most part, we have been following our teachers’ and elders’ advice and we leave the nation thinking that it is in our best interest.

I am no different; I followed the advice of my parents and neighbors and left my motherland not just to pursue an education in a foreign land, but to escape the problems of the beleaguered nation. I don’t think we are misguided when we want to pursue higher education in a foreign land, but we will be remiss if we don’t gather the courage and intention to contribute back to the land and to make a real change.

I know change does not happen in one day, nor even one year.  It is important to remember that neither Rome nor America were built in one day. They both endured a lot in their rise to power. The US endured deprivation, casualties and hardship through the World Wars. The US also had to battle Civil War and internal cancer of slavery. Yet, the people persisted, remained determined to take their nation and indeed the world to a better place for the future generations even when the realities were uncooperative. Fortunately, we Nepalese, as a nation have not suffered such disasters.

There are also strong reasons to be hopeful. Today, nearly two out of three Nepalese are youth. We are all hungry for and try to find a purpose in life. Nepal in crisis should be our opportunity. We should accept the challenge of turning “the crisis” into “an opportunity“. Let us remember that we are all mortal, but we are not slaves of destiny. We should acquire the wisdom and courage to shape our destiny and empower the coming generations to shape their own destiny.

This is the moment Nepal needs us the most. We did not plan Nepal to be like this, nor did anyone. So, this is the moment to realize and make an agenda for action. We can make the Nepal that we want to make. So today, let's join hands, work hard, be optimistic and be part of the solution. We can do it, and in fact we are doing it, because I have had the courage to write this and you have cared enough to read it. As my advisor, Dr. Bruce Ellingson, told me once, “Don’t just write articles but also do something about the things you write about.”  So let us act by informing each other, forming a group and cleaning up our own backyards. We must all start from somewhere. So why not start now?