mian sahab

Days and Nights in USA!
2010-06-09 02:15:24 (UTC)

Leadership Summit Essay!

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Mian Sarmad Arif,
Pakistani
“Why should I be selected….?”
Stephen R Covey in his book
“The 8th Habit”, “Leaders are neither made nor born they are
self made”. Leadership skill books , biographies of leaders
and leaders themselves have always been my source of
inspiration regardless of ethnical or religious
differentiation. To become a leader and specifically
political leader has been my dream since I have known the
meaning of “leadership”. But in Pakistan political conflicts
are inevitable and it takes struggle of generations to
become a leader. There are few families who have been
dominating Pakistani politics. I had gloomy feeling about
being a leader because if I start that struggle today, my
third generation has the possibility of being known. But I
saw glimpse of hope in YES Program, a way to express myself
and therefore, I put the best of my potentials to get this
scholarship keeping in mind that this is the first and
might be the last chance.
My father is another source of
my confidence, he never advised me to be good, but to be the
best, to become such a human that people give examples of to
the future generations, to me known in good words before I
die. I remained the top student after fifth grade, was
selected in to one of the elite institutions of Pakistan
which polished my leadership skills, participated in debate
and speech competitions and always received best comments
from the teachers in group discussions. After spending some
time here in the USA, I have also learned a lot about
American present leaders and of the past as well, some of
which I admire a lot like Teddy Roosevelt. Even when I was
in Pakistan I used to remain up to date about what’s going
on in US political panorama. I can now see the same things
from different point of views, have a broader vision of
understanding different perspectives whether its America or
Pakistani, Christian or Muslim or Jewish. I want to be at a
position where I can express myself and where I can listen
to the inner voice of people to give them such an aspiration
which enables them to go up to the position where they want.
I like innovative approach in organizing things and broad
view of looking at things.
I think the present era is an era of
comparison of performance. There are many good ones, many
better but the best one makes the difference. I want to make
the difference. Since I was in a small town in Washington
state and on temporary placement, I did not get as many
opportunities as my friends living in New York or Virginia.
I always thought to make the difference, and finally wrote
to the editor of the local newspaper about “Pakistani
Perspective” on terrorist attacks to let as many people know
as I can. This was appreciated by many but also received
some negative comments on the online blog published, I
replied to those comments in a very diplomatic way. I look
at this YES Youth Leadership Summit as a turning point of
my life, the platform to express myself in the best possible
way. I know time is short before I go back home and I will
not get an opportunity like this in Pakistan. This is the
last chance I have to express myself. I have passion and
desire, therefore I should be selected for this leadership
summit.
I have learned a lot from community
service projects which totally a new experience because I
had not done things in such an organized way. We tried to
collect funds for Haiti disaster by selling water bottles
which was a project of International Club in my high school.
I felt very proud working with my fellow students in an
organized way and sharing ideas to get the best possible
advantage. I learned how sympathetic the students are, by
the way they helped. Secondly, presentations on my country
helped we build confidence which I think is the first and
foremost quality of a leader. I can feel the change and I
have become more eloquent than ever before.
I am pretty sure that people of
Muslim nations and USA would have more misconceptions about
each other than there are now if Senator Kennedy and Senator
Richard G.Lugar have not taken this marvelous step of
starting exchange programs which not only includes YES
Program but also some other great programs like “Fulbright”.
Its nothing less than a whole new world in other part of the
world, when someone comes to USA. Yes Program was totally a
new experience for me and I got to hear many things from
many people that I was not expecting from but I never ever
reacted instead, I smiled back and answered them in hope
that they might change their mind about my country and the
people there. I tried my level best to convey the message to
as many people as I can. For that I did several
presentations in my high school, tried to make many friends
and I did. Presentations worked good, many students loved it
but had mix feelings of joy and surprise. Many faculty
members appreciated that.
Teachers and grown ups like to talk
about the political situation and current issues so I answer
all their questions because I love politics but I avoid
controversial topics and try not to talk on them. I try to
explain to people that we believe and think the same but
from just different perspective and we need to widen our
point of view and we need to create cooperation based on
mutual understanding. This is only possible with good
leaders like Senator Kennedy who can listen to our inner
voices.




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