My heart constantly aches for the deprived and the oppressed. Dreams, ambitions, personal hardships, and lists of individual responsibilities get buried under the observation of humanity's helplessness, boundless greed, and the squandering of life. I torment myself with barrages of questions, dreaming about these things for almost the entire duration of my sleep. My mental stability has reached such a fine line that specific environments, sequences of events, and the trajectory of my thought patterns can make me think like a misanthrope, like a murderer.

If I spend some time on social media, I see all sorts of bandwagons. Everything follows a terribly universal pattern. When news of someone's or a group of people's oppression or death circulates, everyone scrambles to find the sad stories of those oppressed or deceased to express their sorrow. Like a swelling balloon, its perimeter expands dangerously, and suddenly, another event—it could be similar or even more heart-wrenching, or its extreme opposite, some utterly trivial incident—starts circulating and pops that balloon. Then, the people who were sad seem to behave like utter fools. Meanwhile, the regular rhythm continues: short videos of modern-day prostitutes dancing without any occasion, nonsensical content created by some unscrupulous journalist to dominate social media, getting engrossed with unnecessary people and events, or at the very least, politically motivated propaganda and the discussions that follow. Because they must go on.

Superficially, it might seem like this is all that's happening in the country. But that's not true. What's happening is on the largest and most terrifying misinformation-propaganda machine in human history: social media. You'd be surprised to know that a balloon is created and kept ready for everyone: your online world. They will make sure you believe what they want you to believe! This puzzle is more frightening than the propaganda of any dictator in the world. How many people watch a so-called popular video? Everyone in that balloon-world watches it. But in the reality of the entire nation, that number is negligible. The videos my father watches sitting on the balcony, I never see in my life. A person who values their time highly, who belongs to one balloon, will never see the things from the balloon of a lazy person. The creators of social media have no ethics, not an iota of humanity; they only want money and influence, and in exchange, they are ready to sacrifice the entire world.

Today in Bangladesh, there is sorrow, complaint, and abuse towards the government. Everyone will sympathize looking at the wife and children of the man who died from a stray bullet, and will dig through his Facebook posts to sympathize some more. It will be flooded with various "alas" stories, and after waking up twice, from the third day noon, they will engage in intellectual discussions about which political party is dominating the field, or which teenager has become too cheeky because her parents are not good people. And yet, after all that happens in the country, my father will wake up at dawn and go to his work as usual. My mother will talk to me about the same things she has talked about all her life. The events of my real life will occur relative to the universe. Then, again, one day, there will be a state-sponsored murder in this country. The man who died from the stray bullet today was killed by the state.

The state does not have the direct power to kill. It is made a murderer by those people who are terribly lazy, greedy, and ungrateful. And whoever goes into governing the country, they seem to become like that! Here lies the main twist of the story. Aristotle, a resident of the golden age of the society where knowledge was cultivated, after analyzing humans, society, and politics for ages, concluded that for running a country, we need fools, not any intelligent person. Because, our society is like a human body – the leaders of that society are not the brain, they are the heart. And the heart's job is to keep the whole system together, not to use the head. Most political leaders in the world are of dull brains and small minds; they cannot be large-hearted. They cannot see the aspirations of the people; rather, they can wear the mask of their best friend, always loyal to their own self-interest, and party ideology, always one-sided—that is their fulfillment. Those who are not eloquent in speech, but skilled in real work, will use their heads. In nation-building, in patriotism. The government? It is merely a medium. The people are the strength, the people are the state.

However, for residents of countries like ours, social media has become a very big problem. It has imprisoned people's beliefs, lifestyles, loyalty to the state, desire to fulfill responsibilities in various balloons, and shattered their sense of nationalism into pieces. The people imprisoned in whichever party's balloon see the country from their own perspective, and likewise the devotees of each party – which is the second biggest disappointment. Even if someone manages to break out of their balloon, the worship of parties, considering political leaders—such fools—as the protectors and masters of the country, bottling up all their own power and placing it at their shoes, is ingrained in the blood of this nation, for generations.

By abusing on social media, by giving loud speeches, you can indeed garner the sympathy of people in your balloon, but what actual benefit does that bring? If I tell you to clean the mirror, you will certainly start disliking me. If you truly want what's good for the country – bring about the change you want to see. Without pointing fingers at anyone else, fulfill your own responsibilities. Monitor what children are being taught in schools and colleges. If you feel that what was promised—to give children the knowledge to become proper human beings—is not being delivered, then protest. If you possess the qualities of a leader, then protest in a group. If you are courageous, protest alone. What is there to fear? If you still fear death living in this country, then, I think your balloon must be the "Raja Balloon"!

When you get on a bus, if the driver breaks the law, take action against him, softly or harshly, whichever is required. If someone gets on the bus stopping it anywhere, insult them, resist. When empty rickshaws, legunas, CNGs parked at every street intersection create artificial traffic jams, protest against it. Force the indifferent police to fine them. Kick the buses standing in the middle of the traffic signal to make them move forward. Alone, what can you do? Do you know how counting is done? 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… like this. It starts from zero, then one. Did you know that? If you do it, and if one more person joins, then another, then yet another?

In government and private offices, hospitals, whenever you see any irregularity, authoritatively compel them to perform their duties. Even if it hurts your own interests, still do it. The Creator sent you as a human, and only humans are capable of selfless action. You have it within you too; try once to bring it out. You could die at any moment; don't make your already short life even shorter by fearing death so much. Your family? Instead of living in hell with your family, it's better to fight for your family's good and die; you should think this, because you are indeed roaring on social media. At whom are you roaring? No one is listening. If you cannot do it in real life, you are a hypocrite. However, know this: I am a hypocrite too. We are all hypocrites. But if at least some times we can stop this hypocrisy—you, I, we, the people of the country—only then will the country survive in a way worth surviving. No political leader or government has the power to change the destiny of this huge country with a population of twenty to twenty-two crore.

On social media, create a new balloon, a completely new one, a balloon where there is discussion of knowledge—science, literature, world history, wars, rulers, the philosophies of world-renowned philosophers. You start it yourself and see; much more dopamine is released in such work than in scrolling through Facebook: you were never allowed to know that.

Only one thing, and one thing only, can save the Bengali nation from ruin.

Education. Education. Education.

October 26, 2025

Dhaka, Bangladesh.

NB: AI Generated Translation

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