POSITIVITY
  • Workshops
    • Calendar
  • Resources
    • Shop
    • Blog
    • Books
    • Podcast >
      • Hashtag Positivity Podcast
      • On A Positive Note Podcast
      • It's the Climb Podcast
    • Quotes
    • Free Minicourses >
      • Magic Words
    • Grow with the Flow
    • Principles of Happiness
  • Connect
Magic Words

PERSISTENCE

2/21/2022

0 Comments

 
"Persistence empowers enduring devotion to a pursuit even in the face of difficulties." — Jonas Cain
​Read the full story ⬇︎
The first time he escaped, the police brought the ten-year-old boy back to the carpet factory seeking a finder’s fee. That’s how Iqbal learned the police could not be trusted.

Even though bonded labor was illegal in Pakistan, the law was never enforced—because turning a blind eye was far more beneficial for the powers that be.

Every day since the age of four, Iqbal (pronounced ick-ball) would be chained to a carpet loom, along with countless other children tied to the same plight. His mother had given him to the factory to pay a debt owed to a wealthy business owner. But the system was rigged from the start. Any little mistake the children made in the manufacturing of the carpets would cause their debt to increase, preventing them from ever paying down the debt.

There was no end in sight for their plight and Iqbal knew he had to get out of there, but after the first failed escape, he also knew to be more careful about who could be trusted.

One day, Iqbal heard of a nearby rally hosted by the Bonded Labour Liberation Front, an organization committed to ending bonded and child labor. Managing himself free from the loom, Iqbal wove through the streets of town until he arrived at the fringe of the rally, where he pushed through the crowd and made his way to the front lines where he delivered an impassioned speech about the atrocious conditions he and his peers were living in.

Iqbal never again returned to the looms for from that day on he became a powerful activist on a dauntless crusade against bonded and child labor. In the two years following his escape, Iqbal delivered speeches across his homeland and traveled to other nations to speak on behalf of the voiceless children with bondage still looming over them.

As the president of the children's division of the Bonded Labour Liberation Front, Iqbal testified in Europe before the International Labor Organization, and in Boston, he spoke to the Reebok Human Rights Foundation where he was honored for his persistent efforts.

For these efforts, Iqbal received countless death threats from the so-called “carpet mafia” in Pakistan—yet nevertheless he persisted. Despite the ongoing threats, Iqbal was on a compassionate mission, moved by the heart to help those who could not help themselves.

After speaking with the 7th graders at Broad Meadows Middle School in Quincy, MA, the students encouraged Iqbal to stay in the United States where he would be safe. He had plans to study law to better prepare himself to free bonded laborers, and he intended on studying in the United States anyway. But Iqbal knew the fight was in Pakistan, even though it came at the sacrifice of his own safety.

For his persistence, by 1995 at the age of 12, Iqbal was successful in shutting down bonded labor factories all across his homeland and freeing over 3,000 children.

Iqbal Masih is a model example of what is possible when you are motivated by a sincere heart and take persistent action for a worthy cause—serving as an inspiring lesson in compassion, purpose, and persistence.

I wish I could tell you more about Iqbal—about becoming a lawyer and about what he’s done in the ensuing decades to continue his work. But this is where Iqbal’s story ends. On April 16, 1995, Easter Sunday, while visiting family, Iqbal was murdered.

Some say he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, while others say he was targeted and gunned down by the carpet mafia. Whatever the case may be, an inspiring, intelligent, and highly influential 12-year-old’s life was tragically taken from our world far too soon. Yet his life continues to serve as a powerful legacy.

I cannot hear Iqbal’s story and not be moved. He was born in 1983, the same year I was born, and knowing his story creates a new perspective of the world. Had I been born in Pakistan, his story very well could have been my story, and I cannot fathom doing the same impassioned work that Iqbal did when I was 10, 11, and 12 years old.

I wonder what would happen to this world if more people exhibited that same level of persistence that Iqbal demonstrated for what truly matters most?

Reflection​
In what area of your life are you taking worthy and persistent action?

​WANT MORE?
Hashtag Positivity can help you and the people you lead achieve growth by design through community engagement keynotes and assemblies, leadership development workshops, and change management coaching. Connect with Jonas today to discuss your challenges, goals, and obstacles.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    JONAS CAIN, M.Ed.

    Facilitator

    Jonas Cain, M.Ed. is a storyteller, magician, musician, and facilitator of fascination on a mission to help you experience abiding joy.
    ​
    ​
    Connect with Jonas today to discuss your challenges, goals, and obstacles.

    Picture

    Magic Words

    All
    Acceptance
    Action
    Adapt
    Adventure
    Affirmation
    Ally
    April Fools
    Atonement
    Attention
    Authenticity
    Balance
    Banner
    Beautiful
    Behavior
    Belief
    Birthday
    Boat
    Books
    Boundaries
    Breathe
    Care
    Celebration
    Challenge
    Change
    Character
    Cheese
    Choice
    Clarity
    Climb
    Commitment
    Communication
    Compassion
    Compliant
    Confidence
    Connection
    Courage
    Creativity
    Discernment
    Discovery
    Disruption
    Dominant
    Doubt
    Dream
    Education
    Empower
    Encourage
    Engage
    Enjoy
    Enjoyment
    Enthusiasm
    Excel
    Excellence
    Explore
    Facilitate
    Fascination
    Fear
    Focus
    Forgiveness
    Friendship
    Gap
    Generosity
    Gentle
    Grand
    Gratitude
    Growth
    Happiness
    Health
    Hermit
    Honor
    Hope
    Humility
    Humor
    Independence
    Influence
    Influencing
    Initiative
    Inspiration
    Integrity
    Interest
    Invention
    Invest
    Journey
    Joy
    Kindness
    Lane
    Laughter
    Leadership
    Legacy
    Listen
    Live
    Love
    Magic
    Mentor
    Mindfulness
    Mindset
    Momentum
    Motion
    Motivation
    Necessity
    Opportunity
    Passion
    Pathway
    Patience
    Perseverance
    Persistence
    Perspective
    Play
    Positivity
    Possibility
    Preparation
    Presence
    Prize
    Process
    Purpose
    Quantify
    Recognition
    Reflection
    Relationships
    Relax
    Remembrance
    Repentance
    Resilience
    Resolution
    Resources
    Respect
    Responsibility
    Reward
    Sacrifice
    Sail
    Smile
    Stasis
    Steady
    Storm
    Summit
    Support
    Surprise
    Talent
    Teamwork
    Thanksgiving
    Ticket
    Time
    Today
    Tools
    Transformation
    Trust
    Understand
    Value
    Vision
    Wind
    Wonder

    Picture

    Archives

    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017

Picture

JONAS CAIN
​Facilitator of Fascination
800-969-9778 | ​jonas@hashtagpositivity.com

#POSITIVITY

WORKSHOPS | RESOURCES | CONNECT

© 2023
  • Workshops
    • Calendar
  • Resources
    • Shop
    • Blog
    • Books
    • Podcast >
      • Hashtag Positivity Podcast
      • On A Positive Note Podcast
      • It's the Climb Podcast
    • Quotes
    • Free Minicourses >
      • Magic Words
    • Grow with the Flow
    • Principles of Happiness
  • Connect