Why is Critical Thinking needed in Pakistan, or why should it be important?

You are stuck in a traffic jam, in the blistering heat on a road in Karachi. The smoky air and a cacophony of thoughtless honking are all that fill your mind, leaving only room for swear words that scream and fight to be released into the next car. You decide to walk out and see what the source of the jam is, and find that all this torture and wasted time, is owed to a bottle neck 20 cars ahead of you. Because of two people’s initial stupidity, all of this has taken place. Driver X and driver Y were both in a hurry, and because neither would give way, they formed two impossible lanes, which produced an even more miraculous third lane; thus, the 30 or so cars behind it, inching out painfully.

The most frustrating part of it is, how simply all of it could be prevented; if driver X or Y had had the sense to allow the other to pass, allowing themselves to drive on, all of it would be spared, 2 hours of approximately 30 peoples time, would be saved.

In the case of drivers X and Y, their instinctive reactions were defensive, selfish, short-term, and non-cooperative. If they had thought critically, they would have seen past their immediate reaction, and logically discerned that allowing the other to pass through, would save a lot of hassle, and make their lives easier. They would have stepped back from their own thoughts, been rational and spared themselves and all those affected a lot of trouble.

Does this kind of situation not sound so familiar? Be it a traffic jam, a queue, the flooding of the underpass a few years ago due to lack of a drainage system, our badly made roads, lack of democracy, corruption, poverty or even flood relief efforts. Irrational thinking it seems, puts a damper on a lot of things, and can even be fatal. There was a newspaper article about two women who got trampled to death during a race to get to free 5 kg flour handouts. If someone had thought about the possibility of something like this earlier, by thinking critically, the fatalities could have been avoided.

From the blood splattered creation of our country, to the way our government and people have handled things, it is clear, that citizens of Pakistan need to implement critical thinking; the number of problems that could be avoided is astounding. It is idealistic, and much much much easier said than done, but necessary nonetheless.