In the school, final exams were in progress. During the exam, no student was allowed to keep a mobile phone so before the paper started, the mobiles were collected on teacher’s desk from where students took back their phones after they finished their paper. As a routine, every day one or two students forgot their mobile phones which were later on returned to them the following day.

Till then, I used to keep the phones with me. It was almost the end of December and nights were the longest in the year. One could offer morning prayers till seven and the sun rose even after that. The congregation of morning prayers in the nearby mosque was scheduled to be 6:45 AM. Anyhow, as the school started at 8 AM so everyone tried to reach there before this. It was not an easy job to do as it was very cold and those who had to come from a far distance had to leave their houses an hour or two before 8. Anyhow, I used to get up at quarter past 6 (when it was pitch dark everywhere), left the house at 7 and could almost make it on time.

In one of such days, when the students left the examination hall after the paper, I noticed one student had left behind his mobile phone. I took it and put it in my coat’s pocket. When I reached home, I hung the coat in my room and before sleeping, I checked my own phone if the alarm was set at quarter past 6 or not. I was asleep that I heard a mobile phone ringing. First I thought I might be dreaming but then I woke up and found the mobile phone ringing incessantly. It was too dark outside and freezing air had dropped down the temperature of the room as well.

I knew that it was not my mobile phone and as I was not fully awake, so I could not understand from where the sound was coming. Then at once I recalled that there was a mobile phone in my coat and I reluctantly left my bed. As expected, it was the alarm of the mobile which was set at 5 AM. Anyhow, I returned to bed to resume my sweet sleep as it was too cold inside the room. Then, as routine, I woke up with the alarm of my own phone at 6:15 AM and started my daily routine.

That day, I showed the mobile phone in the hall and asked who had left it yesterday. A student of Grade 9 came and identified it as his and I asked him to take it after the paper. When he finished his paper and came to collect his phone, I asked him a question why he used to get up so early in the morning. He said, ‘Sir, our house is very far and it takes almost 90 minutes to reach here and in some cases, when the public taxi or bus comes late, it takes two hours. So it is our routine that we (with his younger brother) leave to school at 6 AM.’ There was nothing that I could say so I tapped him on his shoulder and returned his phone with some praising words.

It is not necessary to mention here that his brother is a year or two younger than him and there rose an admiration in my heart for the dedication of these brothers.

There was another student whom I knew that he belonged to a poor family which was evident from his clothes, schoolbag, shoes and other things. But he was very intelligent and was studying in this school after he won a scholarship by acquiring top marks in scholarship examination. One day, when I was checking the papers of the same class in the staffroom, a teacher asked me about his paper (name of the student I would not like to mention).

He had secured 97 marks in my subject. The teacher gave a faint smile and said, ‘Sir, do you know from where he comes to school?’ I said, ‘No’. Then he said, ‘He comes from a place which is almost 20 kilometers far and he reaches to school after changing three public taxis because there is not direct public taxi or bus to reach here and when he doesn’t find any transport in between these distances, he keeps walking until he gets a taxi. He belongs to such poor family that his father is struggling a lot to provide him with the fares of taxi. I also come from a far place and I know how it is difficult to reach here by public transport because sometimes, you keep waiting and see that every taxi that comes by is already full.’

I felt a deep pain for the sufferings of the little kid because most of us cannot realize the sufferings of those who keep waiting for the public taxi or bus and at times they walk even if it is raining or the temperature outside is cold and freezing. Anyhow, what I could do for him was to award him 3 grace marks and make his marks 100, for which, later on, the child was very grateful and jubilant.

Anyhow, this is not a story limited to few people. In old times, there were warriors and wise commanders who used to plan good war-map and thus intimidated their enemy. Or there were those scholars who used to work incessantly for the welfare of the society by their efforts of spreading the light of knowledge and education days and nights.

In today’s Afghan society, unfortunately, we don’t see many of the dedicated characters who might have forgotten their selves and dedicated their lives for the betterment of others. Almost everyone is busy in making more property and wealth for himself and thus moral standards of society are deteriorating. No doubt, there still may be some people having the pain of others in their hearts and working for others but they have also chosen to be silent and hide in corners.

But there is no need of being disappointed. Our future is going to be much bright and prosperous because we have such students who have realized the true worth of education and who are not ready to give up and their zeal and dedication is increasing to give any kind of sacrifice in this regard.

They rise very early in the mornings, they work in days and join the school in the afternoon or evening shifts, they walk for miles in the rain, crushing the icy snow below their tiny boots, they have learned to ignore the fancy clothes, toys and other luxuries of their class fellows, they have learned to face all the hardships and even show good results in their subjects and they have tasted the sweetness of success attained after the hard work. These young soldiers are our only hope. A day will come when their unique and noble qualities will change the fate of our war-torn and suffering nation. This day may be far a bit but it would definitely come one day.