My greatest ambition in life is to serve my country. I know that this is not an easy job. I also know that there are many ways of serving one’s country. It is not enough to say that my greatest ambition in life is the serving of my country. I shall have to make it clear what sort of service I shall perform.
I know that the best service of my country, in the first place, would be to become a good citizen. I may choose to be a teacher, an engineer or a doctor, I may become a businessman or I may go into the political field. But whatever I become, I shall not be useful to my country, if I do not realize my rights and my duties.
My first step in realizing the ambition of my life, therefore, would be to make myself an ideal citizen. I shall never become corrupt and shall never tolerate corruption in others. I shall be just fair to others. In al things, I will think of the general interest of the community first and of my personal interest only afterwards. Whenever there is a clash between my personal interest and the social interest, I shall not press my own claims. If I can live up to this ideal, I would have a healthy influence on everybody. I can bring about no reform in others if I do not reform myself.
Great men like the Quaid-e-Azam have served our country by taking up the social and political work and by devoting all their time to it. This is not possible for everyone. My way of serving my country would be to take up some profession seriously. I would try to find pout what is the best that I can give to my country. I would try to discover my gifts. Am I best fitted to be a doctor or an engineer? Can I be most useful as a teacher or a businessman? This is what I have yet to decide. I am an ordinary man, and therefore I do not aspire to become the Quaid-e-Azam. But our country needs all sort of men. A doctor also serves his country if he is honest and humane in his work. An engineer is equally useful to his country. I will contribute my share for the progress of my country in whatever capacity I am best fitted.
Of course, I can serve my country only if I excel in the profession which I choose. If I become a doctor, I shall devote all my energies to helping my countrymen as a doctor. My main aim would not be to make money but to fight disease. I will look upon my earning only as a means to carry on my social work. Similarly, if I become an engineer or a teacher, I would attach more important to my work than to my comfort. Whatever job I do, I shall do it sincerely and with social zeal. I would not look upon it as a personal job but as a national job.
I would serve my country in another way also. In addition to my own job, I shall always be prepared to lend my support to all good causes. I would take keen interest in all the social movements going on around me. I shall try to help in removing the poverty and ignorance of my countrymen in every way. If I can afford it, I shall give financial help to organizations which carry on such work. I shall also try to find some time for such extra activities.
I know that the service of my country is impossible if I remain alone and do not pool my energy with that of others. No individual, however great, is in a position to serve his country in isolation. In the world of today, great changes can be brought about only through joint effort. Therefore, I shall take keen interest in the political developments in the parties of my country. I shall study their programmes thoroughly and find out which of them can really work for the welfare of our country. At present I have not decided which party is the best. But I shall patiently and seriously make a choice. I shall render every help to the party of my choice it its work.
With these duties as a citizen, I shall try to combine my duties as a husband, a son, a brother and a father. Of course, the interest of my country will always come first. But I feel, that it is possible to combine these interest together, I feel that if I educate my children well and develop them into good citizens, I shall be doing a great service to my country for this I shall have to produce the right sort of atmosphere in the family. Mo sons will not be good son if I am not a good son myself. They will not grow up to be good citizens if the relations between their father and their mother are not ideal. Therefore, I shall try to create a healthy atmosphere in my family.
My ambition in life is of a very modest nature. It is an ambition that can be easily realized by an ordinary man like me. I know that I shall be able to live up to this modest ideal. If everyone in our country were to have the same ambition, our country would work rapid progress in no time. Thus my ambition in life would be achieved all the more if I can persuade others to follow this very way of life. This I shall try to do by setting a personal example. All those who come in contact with me will be inspired by my way of life. This is the best way in which we can serve our country.