Reality Check – I
Assalam o alaykum w.w.
“Realization comes in a spur of moment – you strive hard for it and it fails you; and when everything seems to be failing around; reality check arrives in no time”
— Moi
Just today early in the morning (early is a BIG word for me), when I was in mood of a heavy double duty Halwa puuri nashta and went out with my da a la saunter around the streets of Islamabad. Happy at the surroundings, birds chirping (I saw some real beautiful birds today as parrots, blue sparrow, one gray coloured and yet another brown coloured big sized bird), clouds hovering Islamabad gorgeously, everything was perfect around. Then I saw a very elderly white bearded man sitting on a footpath few yards away from where I was, and even from that distance I can well see he was trying to eat the remains of thrown-and-eaten-away-watermelon lying on road (as litter).
That hit me … here a thing not big enough for me was the desperation for another being, ust yards away from me, for his life. That hit me hard and opened up path to many many thoughts. By the time, my dad came back with the “naashta” – the man was coming towards us (since there was not much on those watermelon leftovers and now crows were there) and since I always feel a special affection towards elderly (or lets say baabaas) I gave him few rupees that could’ve managed a days meal for him; and he wasn’t begging and just the thought of genuine pleasing smile on his face that moment brings twinge to my beats. And he’s not a alone story here, there’re many such genuine cases we come cross daily in our life.
We forget them…. We don’t remember them in the story of our life, we overlook their basic grieves while fighting our sorrows … what is it all about? That was the realization I had this morning … **IT’S ALL ABOUT ME** … that’s what we’re suffering from.
My mom would always teach us one thing if you’re low and you go whining about it – always look upon people below you; and you’d not stop thanking Allah since that realization
Won’t say any more but I always pray to Allah that may I not live rest of my life feeling only for myself, ignoring the pains and pleasures of other around me … may I never be like this (Ameen)
*Ps : this post can lead to a series of posts … depending on my mood and the reality check occurences =D
Asma, thanks for posting this. We should always be thankful to Allah for all his blessings and it makes our life easy. Secondly we should remember that with every blessing comes the responsibility to use and try to share it properly with our fellow beings as we would with our extended family. Anyone of us could have been at that ‘bab’s’ place as Allah tests us in different ways…sometimes by giving everything , sometimes by not giving many things.
Checked!
Good one!
This is the way through which we get to know that we are MashaAllah blessed with many things which many people doesn’t have…
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Thousands and Thousands of thanks to Almighty Allah for everything he has given us
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Thank the Almighty also for having brought this realisation to you, I would say. It does not come at all to many people, throughout their lives.
Sympathy is natural. It’s only taken away from us gradually as we see more and more of the trickeries of this world.
Don’t get me wrong, I really think that thinking about other people in this manner is something that we should ALL do, but unfortunately, I’ve seldom met people in my life who’d not rather manipulate me if I showed sympathy. Maybe that’s just my experience, and that’s a very small sample, but look around you, deeper, and you’ll find that only the soft-hearted get manipulated. Somehow, I’m torn between agreeing and disagreeing with your point of view on this.
I DO, however, believe that we have a moral and religious obligation to everyone around us. Even the guy who’s sitting next to you on the bus for 5 minutes. Some elderly baba standing in the aisle deserves respect (and a seat)
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Ah, I’m just confused!
These are signs from Allah and not everybody is alert enough to recognize…everybody gets to get these indications but we are so busy with our stuff that dont realize….The guidance is there…but nobody wants it…
This is exactly what my late father used to tell me that “hav a look at those who are less privileged than u” and this is sumthing that i try to recall whenever i feel down just b’coz i cudn’t hav nething what sumone else has.
Asma…if everyone starts accepting these realities of life and be of some help to the ones in distress…life wud be a much much better place to live but unfortunately most of us don’t!
U r lucky to have realized this
Zios thanks for such details and you are very right here, we are here with a responsibility towards humanity, only if we realize it, though. May Allah keep us steadfast on right path, ameen.
Shuaib lolz, good :>
Ayesha hay naa :> and lots of ameen :>
Sidhusaaheb hoping it may not be mere realization :>
Absar your stance is quite right too, but its not the soft-hearted ones who are manipulated they’re usually the fool or “soft-willed” ones … ahh i’m confused too … let me read my own post :>
UTP very right … its the difficult things we usually realize … but the ones that are easy to forget
BTW you’ve read “The Alchemist”??
Fariha you know your father taught you the best thing, unconsciously we expand our wishes and get side-tracked regarding the objectives of life …! Hoping that everyone & I just not realize it but also act upon it, hopefully.