A rshad Nadeem is our new saviour. His achievement represents a breakthrough we had been looking for all these years, all these decades. The celebration had to be overwhelming.
All societies are on the lookout for heroes. Those that have very little claim to achievement have to overplay its relevance. Pakistanis have been desperately looking for heroes.
For many years their efforts and aspirations have been thwarted. A shadow falls between the aspirations to greatness and the reality of the failure to achieve it. Arshad Nadeem is the prototype of a person to be cherished.
Hailing from a ‘nowhere’ background, he conquered the world. For the country, he delivered something it had always wanted but never attained. Many societies wanting to break the barriers of class, caste and race also aspire to own a hero who comes not from a haloed background.
The victory or the achievement is thus an affirmation that the level-playing-field mantra is still relevant and has not been rendered redundant. The greatness of Arshad Nadeem will not be seen as being limited to javelin throw or athletics. The expectations will grow over time.
There will be a demand for the greatness to be used or employed in other areas as well so that the image of the hero is all encompassing and complete. Having achieved greatness in athletics should not mean that one cannot achieve similar greatness in other fields. In our society greatness limited to a single area of human endeavour has not been accepted.
All.