Words that Never Leave You: “But I am working for these helpless people because it is the right thing to do.”
Part Sixteen in an ongoing series from Hollie's book "Words That Never Leave You: Fifty Pearls of Wisdom and Reflection from Survivors Across the World."
Saif Malook is perhaps the most courageous legal defender I have ever met. His life is constantly under threat as one of the few lawyers willing to take on blasphemy cases in Pakistan. Saif ceaselessly stands up for those wrongfully accused of insulting the Prophet without evidence yet languishing for years on death row and facing the peril of vigilante mobs ready to break down jail doors at any moment. Such laws typically target the most vulnerable society, those of minority ethnicities and religions already living within the impoverished cracks in rural communities.
Yet Saif will not turn a blind eye and walk away without heralding the pursuit of justice, the very reason he entered law school in the late seventies. Even with his own life and that of his wife and teen daughter in constant jeopardy, the willingness to do what is right drives Saif to walk into the morass time and time again.
“My neighbors won’t talk to me; members of my family hate me too,” Saif insisted. “But I am working for these helpless people because it is the right thing to do.”
In every predicament we find ourselves in, how often do we stop and remind ourselves to do the right thing, and if we did, would our dilemmas be solved much more fluidly? Moreover, how frequently do we pause and ask ourselves what is the right thing to do, and if we can do it, should we?
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** Short read of meaningful lessons gleaned from the ordinary forced to become extraordinary
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