despite the lack of any reason to cheer and a future to look forward to, we must not (and cannot, for the sake of our children) afford to lose hope. For most of us, this land, for better or worse, is our home and this is all we have; we have nowhere else to go. This piece is, therefore, being written simply because this writer believes that we have to be optimistic about the future, for if we are not, despair is more than likely to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Shahid Kardar
May 13, 1997