GREED among politicians is common the world over. Greed may take the form of greed for power, influence or plain greed for money. While the first two may be put aside as human weaknesses, the last one reeks and disgusts. Unfortunately, our country’s politicians, nearly all of them barring a few self-respecting ones, are badly afflicted with this.

Being fixated in the thought that democracy is the golden wand for our country, and at the same time forgetting conveniently that many progressive countries in our side of the world reached progress and prosperity under the other forms of the government, let us at least try to help our politicians to see their wrongdoing in terms of greed.

A little advice read in Dawn’s Young World may perhaps help. It was put in the form of a riddle: ‘It is a pot in which you can put the seven oceans of the world and is still empty? What is it?

The answer is: it is a sieve’.

Our politicians may please note that wealth is exactly similar. You can put all the wealth of the world in your pot but it will drain equally fast. So what is needed is to plug the holes in the sieve. And here comes the wisdom: plug the holes in your sieve rather than putting more and more water into it. And how do you plug the holes? Through contentment. Our politicians are truly capable more than any other in the world. Being Pakistanis we are quite an accomplished race of people. When we put our minds to anything, we can do it. The nuclear bomb is just one example.

Our politicians have made enough and they can keep making more but start plugging the holes in their ‘greed sieve’ with contentment. It will not only help to make their life happy but also to shine as great statesmen. May Allah give them guidance and help them to become good humans.

ZIA PARACHA     Karachi