COLUMN: Fatima Ijaz: Love's Labor's Lost

5th September ' 22, Labor Day, USA.

I'd like to talk about Ayn Rand today. I feel she is one of the most misunderstood writers of modern times. If Isadora Duncan left America and critiqued American 'tin can food' and lack of culture, then Ayn Rand, left Russia and criticized heavily Russian culture. "We the living" is absolutely an emerald cast in a desert, and it sweeps your soul. Kira, the fierce, warrior-spirited protagonist would risk her life as long as Leo was safe. And this book savagely portrays the flaws of communism. So well done.

Ayn Rand's fictional work is a salute to the workaholic woman and man. Long days at the office, without a care for ought else. Determination, zeal, passion, ambition to excel in one's field, make a name for one self. How is this 'American dream' flawed? I think it is bold, beautiful and necessary. I have always admired Dagny from "Atlas Shrugged", Dominique from "Fountainhead" - these were fiercely powerful women and knew how to work in a difficult world. Even if at the end, it was Atlantis -- Dagny chose the world again.

Ayn Rand is not against labor. She is FOR it. She passionately makes a case for sheer hard work, long hours and meticulous labor that goes on and on and on. She is the mother of workaholics, the patron saint of workers.

It is sad when a literature work is simply misunderstood. She is tongue n cheek with her country, it is after all her country - and we have strange relationships with our roots and our people and what we want to say to them can sometimes be alarmingly witty, biting but there is always more to it. For a woman who loved 'land' it is impossible that the ruin of Russia did not affect her.

Labor Day Mubarak. (Long Live Labor!)