Who Are We?
?ہم کون ہیں
हम कौन हैं?

On her first day of high school, Khadija arrived as if stepping into a new world.
A new laptop, thick textbooks, separate rooms for separate subjects. In each room, an expert — and with every expert, a different truth.
She sat through each class attentively, noting down what seemed important.

First Period — Biology

On the slide, a naked infant — lying on grass, as if the earth itself had given birth to him. The son of a nomadic mother near the Amazon rainforest.
The next slide showed a baby rocking in a golden cradle — a prince of Europe.
The teacher said,
“The genetic difference between these two may be less than one percent — perhaps only 0.1 percent. The rest is the same.
Birth, breath, heartbeat, bones, nerves — fundamentally, humans are alike."

Khadija wrote in her notebook:
Biologically, human beings are remarkably similar.

Second Period — Anthropology

“The Earth is about four and a half billion years old.
The earliest signs of life date back three and a half billion years.
Dinosaurs came and disappeared, but mammals survived.
We humans emerged in Africa roughly three hundred thousand years ago.
Sixty thousand years ago, we began migrating to different parts of the world.
Ten thousand years ago, our population was about five million — today it is eight billion.
The Earth is the same — but humans have multiplied.
Now we are divided into one hundred and ninety-five countries, with our borders, passports, systems, wars, and treaties.”

Khadija wrote:
Human origins and history are shared — so why did societies grow apart?
Why so conflicting, so divided?
Who makes us fight, and for what?

Third Period — Economics

The teacher explained,
“A country’s total production is called GDP. If divided by population, it gives per capita income.
In some countries it is thousands of dollars per year; in others, only a few hundred.
That is why healthcare, education, and food are easily available in some places, while basic needs remain scarce in others.”
He added,
“Averages never tell the whole story. Even within countries, resources are unevenly distributed.”

Khadija wrote:
Wealth is nowhere equally shared.
The gap between prosperity and poverty remains.
And what of the poor in poor countries?

Fourth Period — Religious Studies

The teacher said,
“Every religion serves as a source of truth and guidance for its followers.
People hold firmly to what they believe to be right.
Throughout history, people have sacrificed for their faith — and they still do.”

Khadija wrote:
Faith is an essential part of human identity.
But why this bloodshed in the name of religion?

Fifth Period — At the Lunch Table
A friend asked,
“How was the first day?”
Khadija replied softly,
“Interesting… but unsettling.
If we are so biologically alike, and our beginnings are shared, how did our borders, economies, and beliefs become so different?”
Her friend smiled.
“Perhaps understanding that is the true purpose of education.”

The next day, someone had written a simple sentence on the school notice board:
‘Learning here is not just about receiving information, but about generating better questions.’

In class, Khadija opened her laptop and created a new file. She typed the title:
Who are we?
The friend seated behind her glanced at the screen and nodded in quiet agreement.

Riaz Akber
Canberra, Australia