Originally posted by Junaid
An announcement by Atif Aslam ...
"This
particular post is one of the most important messages I have ever
conveyed to the Aadeez. I hope that all of you will read it and respond
positively, I expect you to!
When you are part of a community, it is your responsibility to look out
for the less fortunate and make time for people that can always use your
help in any shape or form. Not only is it important to help the needy
yourself, it is also equally essential to encourage others to do the
same. However, it needs to be done in a way that doesn't necessarily
sound preachy or forced. A person needs to feel good about making a
difference in someone's life. The gesture might be as small as spending
time with an orphan or as large as donating food, clothing or money to
the less fortunate, the fact that an effort was made to bring a smile on
someone's face is really what counts!
In this post, I wanted to focus on the initiative rather than talk about
myself. The initiative presents a unique opportunity for Aadeez around
the globe to interact with me directly! I have come up with the idea
myself and I hope that with the support of my team it will not only
create a continuous chain of interaction, it can serve a meaningful
purpose at the same time!
Here's the concept and the guidelines:
1) Whether you are in Pakistan or the Philippines, India or
Mauritius, the reality of life is that every country of the world has
residents that are less fortunate. Whether it’s a handicap, financial
woes or personal challenges, every country has such individuals that we
normally don't think about! Handicapped people, the poor, orphans etc,
all these individuals need special attention and care so that they also
consider themselves effective members of the community! The initiative
encourages Aadeez in every country to help the needy! It can be anything
from spending a day with the poor to donating food or clothing. It can
be as simple as providing one poor hungry child a meal.
2) However, it’s not that simple either. This initiative is not
about going to an orphanage for 5 minutes, taking a picture with an
orphan while giving him a shirt or a meal and leaving. It’s not about
that at all! It is not entirely based on the material goods; the time
you spend with that person needs to bring about a change in his or her
life. He/she needs to feel that they have made a new friend, a new
companion, someone who cares about him/her. The reaction of the person
will validate your effort and his/her happiness will be the only
measuring stick. So you cannot just send a meal somewhere, obviously you
can do that as well, it is a noble deed. But this particular initiative
requires you to interact with the person such that you truly make
him/her happy and bring some joy in his/her life.
3) That's what you need to do! But why? What's the reward? Well,
first of all, deeds that are so noble will be rewarded in the afterlife.
Allah will also shower His blessings upon such people in this lifetime.
So the Aadeez need to keep that in mind first and foremost while doing
such deeds! Having said that, I have also come up with an idea that can
reward such Aadeez! As a reward for any of the deeds mentioned above, I
will personally meet selective members & congratulate them on a job
well done! I will basically make time for such members during my
gigs/tours and dine with such Aadeez! It means that if I am in London
for a gig & my team has selected such an Aadeez member randomly, I
will try my best to have lunch or dinner with that person! We will
select at least two such members for each meeting.
4) This is the initiative that I have thought of! I feel that since
Allah has blessed me enough that people have the desire to meet me,
these interactions need to turn into something meaningful, something
that brings a positive change in someone else’s life! Someone who needs
it genuinely! As a reward, I will help that person who helped others in
something that every Aadeez genuinely needs, a chance to meet me! Hence,
everyone's a winner & hopefully there will be a lot more children
in this world who will sleep happily with decent clothing & their
hunger satisfied! It is not just about donations or making a difference
in one country, this initiative will basically create a network of such
people who will help others in different parts of the globe. So even If I
don’t live in a country or don’t know about such issues in that
particular region, I will know in my heart that my Aadeez members in
that part of the globe are doing their bit to bring about a positive
change!
5) Now how do we choose such members? Well, if you’ve done such a
deed, you need to take pictures, make a video and also post a review of
the entire experience on my official forum. Ideally, we will need all
three. I know that such deeds should not be captured or advertised but
my team will need these pictures, videos & reviews to validate your
efforts so that no one tries to abuse this pure cause! You can send your
pictures directly to the management of Atif Aslam via email. In case of
the videos, you can upload them on Youtube & provide my team with
the links! We will choose some of the best videos & compile them to
be uploaded on the official Facebook page of Atif Aslam! If you want to
post your videos anonymously, you can get in touch with the management
via my official forum and share private videos with them. If you have
any confusion about it, you can get in touch with the team of the
official forum. Members can also decide whether they want their videos
to be a part of the compilation that will be uploaded on the official
Facebook page or they want to keep them anonymous.
6) The selection of the members who will get a chance to meet me
will be made randomly or case wise! The kind of effort made by the
member will also be taken into consideration! However, meeting me for a
lunch or dinner depends entirely on my schedule & location! But I
can assure you that I will try my best to meet such members as this
whole initiative is my brain child to begin with!
This entire initiative has been conceptualized under the flagship
project of Atif Aslam called "YOUTH UNITED" that encourages the youth of
the Aadeez Universe to have a positive influence in the society &
make a difference!
We have come up with a title, a very funny yet meaningful title for this
initiative. We are going to call it "Atif Aslam's fans go M.A.D". Yes,
that's right, I said M.A.D, but here's the catch, M.A.D stands for "Make
a Difference". Hence, the initiative is called "Atif Aslam's fans go
make a difference". Its funny, different, in many ways close to reality
:P hehe, but most importantly, it conveys the message across without
sounding preachy. For me, it serves the purpose perfectly! So Aadeez,
get ready and go M.A.D in your community, you know what I mean! Not only
the initiative will be titled as M.A.D, we will also celebrate the
M.A.D day every year on 9th March. On this day, we will celebrate
our efforts by acknowledging the new friends that we have made in that
year. We will recognize the people whose lives we have changed in some
way. The celebrations can also mean that we go back to our friends, the
people whom we met in that year and bring them together on this special
day! The day is simply a way to keep us motivated towards the cause and
celebrate the fact that we are continuously making a difference!"
- Atif Aslam
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