The other time, a few girlfriends and I had lunch and this million dollar question was asked…"What have I done for the past 30-something years?" If you girls are reading this, I am haunted by this question day in and day out. Never a day did I actually stop thinking about it. But this profound question puts many things into perspective – for me at least.
I’ll be 34 in a month’s time – an apt time to reflect on what I have done so far. Nobody knows how many more years, days, minutes or seconds that we have left on this earth. To me, this question triggers so many other questions like what is the purpose my existence? What is my mission? What do I want to leave behind? All questions that needed to be answered by none other than ourselves. We have to be true to ourselves – we owe that to ourselves. No point in lying to ourselves by thinking that we have done all the good that we could.
I admit I have many bad habits, habits that bring me nowhere or even are detrimental to my well being. I try to wipe them out but It is difficult to change yourself. Old habits do die hard – especially the bad ones. It is very easy to get caught by bad habits, you just get hooked. If you have people near you who have these bad habits, it is much easier to join them. Like peer pressure. No wonder, it is said that if you can’t beat them, join them; even if such act eventually kills you.
We ,humans, yearn for human acceptance, acknowledgement. That is why we enjoy the company of others. Being alone…well, it sucks. No one likes being alone. So even if everybody or the majority does something not right, our human tendency tells us to join them. Never mind that our values or principles deteriorate to the lowest at least we are “IN” rather than be a sore thumb sticking out of nowhere.
I admit it is indeed easier to go with the flow of the majority. No need to fight hand and foot to stay alive. But the “want” to blend in with the crowd causes us to stray away from our main purpose of living on earth. What the majority is doing need not be OUR purpose in life. We could just be wasting precious time. And time lost can never be recovered. We can only look back to see what we can salvage so we can make things right again, hopefully.
So back to that priceless question – What is our main purpose in life? Have we at least achieved a small percentage of it? Or have we not even met any target? Where do we stand now?
These questions can only be answered if we look deep into ourselves. It is for no one to judge but we will definitely be accountable for them after we leave this earth. We come to this Earth alone and we will ultimately leave it alone. So it is inevitable that we answer the question about our life – alone.
Monday, March 27, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Let me compliment on a few things first... first, your thoughts and being able to put them down.. kudos! Cos as much as I can think/say, I can't write it down, I lack eloquency in speech/words. Second, thought provoking questions you have here. It's simply amazing that at least I finally found a blog that I can actually relate to.
As for the entry...
old habits die hard you say, well, tell me about it! It's no joke. Those habits always put me down. It's hard to stop those habits, really hard I say... I've tried but it doesn't seem to work.
"it is said that if you can’t beat them, join them; even if such act eventually kills you." - Well said. And the thing about going with the flow... sigh.
The one thing I've learnt from my guru is that the worst enemy is your friends. To me, it seems true. I've always wanted to blend among them till much later I realised that if I want to be friends with them, instead of going down with them... I'd rather bring them up with me... and If I can't, I'm going to stay put but never ever going down with them. Grin.
Main purpose of life you ask... I'm living just because I'm here already. Alhamdulillah, i feel that I've achieved that small percentage of what you were talking about.
I just find it funny while typing this down, I feel that you understand me in some way but some others won't. Some things are deep in comprehension... for some, they just think I'm overdoing it.
Blah, i just realised it's morning and I haven't had my cup of coffee.
Hope you have a nice day.
Thanks for making my day.
May Allah(swt) shower his love & blessings on you.
the woman - Assalamualaikum Dear sister, thank you so much for the compliments and your doa. Alhamdullilah for the inspiration that Allah has given me. I am just sharing whatever thoughts that I have. And if my writing inspire others - Alhamdullilah. 8)
Salaams
Take one step at a time.You might not think that what you do is significant but you might have touched others heart's in sum ways.
Slow and steady wins the race...I try each day insyallah to better myself improve whatever I did the day before.Even if it was to control my temper..
We are but humans afterall.Take care.
salam Em
Yes, agree with you, Sis! The way to go is slow and steady. 8)
What is our main purpose in life? Have we at least achieved a small percentage of it? Or have we not even met any target? Where do we stand now?
If we keep thinking about these things, we might end up being hopeless in the end. Because the fact is, as far as "what have we achieved, where we stand and so on" are concerned, we are far behind if we are to compare ourselves to the sahaabahs, the tabi'eens and the salafis. Furthermore, the abovementioned people are not infallible.
I'm not saying we shouldn't ponder upon such things but we need to concentrate on what we can do now to change rather than look into the past and think where we stand so far. If we are going to be honest with ourselves and we are to look up what the early Muslims have achieved, then we can mostly agree that we are far behind. Far behind.
There is this saying, "Kalau nak kira dosa, sampai atas langit pun tak abis." Pretty disheartening, if you ask me. Some give up trying to do good after thinking about it too much. "Why try?" they say. "I'll keep sinning no matter how hard I try not to."
Some ponder on these things way too much to the point where they forget Allah is Merciful. We should all try to avoid sin but bear in mind as well that no man can ever be sinless, that we will keep making mistakes. But at the same time, keep reminding ourselves that Allah is Merciful and that He is Oft-Forgiving.
As for our practices, even if we do little of it, remember that the Prophet (saw) has always advised on consistency. Sikit, tak apa... asalkan consistent. And then work our way up from there... slowly but surely.
I too worry a lot. Believe it or not, as happy as I seem to be on my blog, I usually weep when in prayer or when I'm breaking my fast. I weep because I worry that all the things I've done (my salaat, my fast, etc... be it obligatory or sunnat) is not done well enough to be accepted. And I keep telling myself that all I can do is try my very best. Where I stand is not for me to decide. And whatever that decision is, I must accept it for Allah is Al 'Adl. He is The Just, The Impartial.
As for our practices, even if we do little of it, remember that the Prophet (saw) has always advised on consistency. Sikit, tak apa... asalkan consistent. And then work our way up from there... slowly but surely.
Agree with you, bro. and also on the part about not pondering too much into the past. It is what we can do now, to better ourselves. 8)
Post a Comment