Aysha Taryam Quotes

Viciousness is part of the world we live in, some of us choose to ignore it with the rationalisation of wanting only positivity to flow our way. How selfish we have become! That the pain of others has become a hindrance to the fulfilment of our positive selves. ~ Aysha Taryam

It is human nature to write of that which interests us, of facts that are deemed essential at the time of inscription and that is why history as is documented, is as much an interpretation, as it is a collection of facts. ~ Aysha Taryam

Having to explain to a child of today, who has learned to swipe before they can speak, that certain aspects of a person's life must remain private for the preservation of one's sanity is almost frivolous. ~ Aysha Taryam

Every woman, hell, every man should be a feminist, that is the only way to render this word obsolete. ~ Aysha Taryam

When an entire segment of the world is burned and reduced to a lawless battleground for thugs and mercenaries, a land where government does not exist, where the slate of history is being wiped out and hope has drowned in gallons of innocent blood, the only respite comes in the form of the open seas and what lies beyond the horizon. So ships are boarded and pain is tolerated just a little while longer. ~ Aysha Taryam

The cost of war is like an immeasurable tremor that knows no borders, its shockwaves reverberating across the world resulting in universal suffering. ~ Aysha Taryam

What is worse than indifference is when people's nationalism allows for the conscious rationalisation of brutality as part of a political balance sheet. It is but a grave oversight when people shift their responsibility towards moral values for the duty to obey. ~ Aysha Taryam

We have reached the age of denial, we have become happiness seekers, afraid to feel. We are told to think positive, to seek only joy. Stores overflow with books selling you ways to rid yourself of 'negative' feelings. ~ Aysha Taryam

And that is the ultimate goal, to elect politicians who strive to implement laws that are blind to gender differences and whose ultimate goal is to create fair and just societies, that is how it works. ~ Aysha Taryam

Just as one goes on a fast or a body cleanse you owe it to yourselves to detox your mind, it will not be easy but easy never yielded lasting results. ~ Aysha Taryam

How difficult it has become to decipher the truth from the fictitious, to trust one's own eyes over the art of image distortion. Information is power and if readings have taught us anything, it is that power inevitably corrupts. ~ Aysha Taryam

The word feminism has become synonymous with man-hating when in fact it has more to do with women than men. ~ Aysha Taryam

Those who use prejudice and hate as a foundation to make their cases have no merit. It is only when these feelings are set aside that we can think clearly and productively. ~ Aysha Taryam

George Floyd's pleas awakened this world that has been rendered comatose by fear of contagion and all of a sudden nothing mattered but justice. ~ Aysha Taryam

Say what you wish about media in the Arab world, but say it knowing that no media channel in the world is absolutely free. ~ Aysha Taryam

Societies have a peculiar way of relating, or more accurately non-relating, to rape maybe because it is so vicious, they choose to live in denial about it. ~ Aysha Taryam

The world believes it was built by love but reading Shah Jahan's own words on the Taj, one could say it was grief that built the Taj Mahal and it was sorrow that saw it through sixteen years till completion. ~ Aysha Taryam

Democracy should always be viewed with a philosophical perspective rather than a political one, because after all democracy was born to a philosopher and murdered by a politician. ~ Aysha Taryam

In the near future the images in history will differ and the faces who changed the world would no longer be reserved for the masculine. We always knew history to be a story told by him but the future will have one that is written by her as well. ~ Aysha Taryam

At times it seems as if the whole world has become a refugee and the few of us, who are privileged enough to wake up to the sound of an alarm clock instead of a siren, those of us who are enveloped by a veil of safety many of us fail to appreciate, have become desensitised to the migrating numbers, to the images of the dead, shrugging them away as a collective misery that this ailing part of the world must endure. ~ Aysha Taryam

There is no point of relaying statistics on rape because for every figure given there are thousands missing, unreported. It is a shameful state we have created where a victim chooses to endure the pain and suffering, silenced by fear that judgment will come before justice. ~ Aysha Taryam

Geography should be the ultimate deciding factor for every political dilemma for proximity to an ailing land is bound to result in one's infection. ~ Aysha Taryam

Freedom of the press can never be the licence to say anything one desires. Freedom of the press is not the freedom to slander and attack and must never be used to fight other people's wars. It does not mean manipulating a story into speaking your views. One might think it common sense but in the world of journalism a lot of what makes sense is lost to the lure of favouritism, greed and fame. Sadly, in this truth-telling business truth is hard to find. ~ Aysha Taryam

In politics, the pen is at its heaviest because it is weighed down by the collective responsibility it holds towards its people and their future in the eyes of the world. ~ Aysha Taryam

What social-media really becomes after years of use is a constant stream of information both verbal and visual that at first drenches the mind, quenching its thirst for knowledge, and subduing its curiosity slowly but surly transforms into a torrent that renders the brain heavy and the mind restless. ~ Aysha Taryam

The lesson we are indebted to Egypt for, our future generations learned that in the face of oppression silence is never golden. ~ Aysha Taryam

We are imperfect creatures created with egotistical defects, insecurities and an incomprehensible desire for perfection and the excessive use of social media feeds the raging fires within, most of the time adding salt to wounds we never knew existed and at times creating new ones. ~ Aysha Taryam

Why does it seem easier for us to accept reality when it is within the confinement of the animal kingdom yet so hard for us to face it in our? ~ Aysha Taryam

I have come to realise that the most critical of the social media accounts are the least verbal in real life and I can assure you that most social media trolls have no physical troll land to dwell. ~ Aysha Taryam

People whose lives were determined for them by a group of politicians whose severing, dissecting and reattaching of their lands has turned their world into a monster that not even its creator can control. ~ Aysha Taryam

In a sea of human beings, it is difficult, at times even impossible, to see the human as being. ~ Aysha Taryam

Young activists like Greta Thunberg are fighting for the Earth's survival but what use is this planet if it continues to be nurtured by the blood of the innocent and prosper through others' misfortunes? Save the trees, the oceans and the skies, save the planet but do not forget to save its soul. ~ Aysha Taryam

Many of us no longer expose or surround ourselves with people who disagree with us politically or ideologically, we have the ability through a click of a button to silence those whose beliefs we find culturally offensive or merely different, and while this might be both convenient and comfortable it is also dangerous. ~ Aysha Taryam

The Arab Spring whose seeds failed to bloom anything other than a chaotic mess that requires only blood to grow has contributed immensely to the rising numbers of these migrants. ~ Aysha Taryam

For every Aruna story we hear there are hundreds of thousands that will never be heard, swept under the great rug of shame societies have so eloquently woven. It is up to us to speak up, to lift this heavy rug and reveal the ugliness it conceals. ~ Aysha Taryam

History is not always pessimistic for if World War II Europe has taught us anything it is that the rebuilding of cities is possible and the mending of a nation's spirit can be achieved. ~ Aysha Taryam

Today, while the cyber world rages with ideologies and passionate moral perspectives, the streets remain comatose, echoing nothing but silence. ~ Aysha Taryam

One's love for his country is a very sacred emotion that is intertwined with their sense of moral obligation and is an essential part of one's identity. ~ Aysha Taryam

George Floyd's death may have compelled you to post a black image on your social-media accounts but what it should really have done is made you question yourself and find within you those dark places where intolerance might be hiding for who among us can stand tall and proclaim that they have never been prejudiced towards a certain ethnicity, gender, colour or faith? ~ Aysha Taryam

As politicians weigh courses of action against their political agendas the death toll weighs heavy on the conscience of the world. The once vibrant Syrian streets are now haunted by the souls of the innocent and the historic monuments that told of an unrivalled Arab civilisation no longer stand tall. ~ Aysha Taryam

Violence is violence and can in no way be misconstrued as discipline under any circumstance cultural or otherwise. ~ Aysha Taryam

We are acknowledging the interconnectedness of our lives with other animals. Their well-being is not separate from ours. On the contrary, we share the same fate.
Moving forward, how we choose to be with animals will depend on how willing we are to be with them. Not as predator and prey, not as master and servant. But as kin, as partners, and as friends, strolling shoulder to shoulder along the dips and rises that stretch before us. We lose nothing when we do so. What we gain is our health, our happiness, our humanity. And friendships that are irreplaceable. ~ Aysha Akhtar