“The world doesn’t make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do?”
-Pablo Picasso
“The world doesn’t make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do?”
-Pablo Picasso
Thank You, God, for blocking all the roads that You know won’t lead me anywhere close to where You have great plans of me to be, and saving me the regret of finding it out later. You alone know best. I shall have no expectations from anyone and allow myself to be pleasantly surprised by You…. ~
–A.S
If you’re a doer of good in the community and you’re always bombarded with criticisms and both positive and negative reactions (life has both types of people in it), it takes patience to not do how instinct tells you to react. Rather, self-control, character strength and especially humility are needed in such cases. It isn’t easy having to patiently listen to someone’s words that you already know isn’t going to be to your liking. Likewise, it takes self-restraint not to let that compliment get to your head and swell it up.
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Speaking of doing good, how much good are you really doing?
Ah, Mr.Physics and I. We have an intense hate-love relationship going on… and I’m not the only one who finds it hard to deal with him.
You see, a relationship’s essential foundation is communication.
This picture sort of captures my moments of euphoria:
I had broken the ice. And it felt SO good to do that!
‘Cause you’re hot then you’re cold
You’re yes then you’re no
You’re in then you’re out
You’re up then you’re down
You’re wrong when it’s right
It’s black and it’s white
We fight, we break up
We kiss, we make up.
OK, so I’m gonna get started on this week’s assignment. I’ll likely be in hate-mode initially, until Mr.Physics will sweep me off my feet as rays of understanding slowly make their way to me.
—A.S.
(A super ancient 2007 poem I stumbled across in my Yahoo email inbox. Old, but still relevant.)
Behold! The fiery red rose;
A beauty, an ayah, a sign
A true miracle if we ponder
Its wondrous nature through time.
It starts as a simple seed
So fragile, innocent and yet it knows
That Allah is its sole Creator
And this knowledge nourishes it as it grows…
A thin stick with thorns it becomes
Among an assortment of green leaves
A small round bud that calmly sways,
Enjoying the wind’s playful breeze.
The white clouds fondly look down
At the bud that they must feed
For Allah ordered the sky’s rain
To pour down on the young seed.
Flaming orange, beautiful sky
As the sun warms the wet leaves
And a red petal feels a welcome hug
From the gentle, friendly breeze.
A petal is born, a second blossoms
Until all are here, fiery red
Welcoming the blanket of warmth
From the sun now that they are fed.
A marvel, a beauty, a dazzling sight
Yet the rose becomes arrogant not
It recognizes its Lord’s mercy upon it,
Which came before it was sought.
It continues to grow and blossom,
Determined in colors fiery red
But the rosiness of the red soon drops;
Disappointed, for foe had once been friend…
For the wind that Allah controls once used
To smile and caress the rose
Now howled and quieted the music
Of the singing birds as they froze.
The birds take off and fly to comfort
And a petal falls from the rose in dismay
But it didn’t leave hope; it didn’t leave faith
For it knew its Lord would resurrect it someday…
And off the petals fell, like tears, one by one
Until fiery red the rose was no more
The sky darkened, the leaves coldly shuddered
As something happened like never before…
Soft, white crystal shapes rained down at Allah’s command;
So bright, sparkling, yet agonizing cold from the sky
It was too much for the rosebush to cope with
So it silenced its thoughts, and appeared to die…
But it died with faith, it died with belief
And with this it did not die in vain
Winter soon got tired and spring smiled at last
As Allah commanded the clouds to pour the rain.
The breeze affectionately whispered to the plant
That it was forever its friend
And the bud awakened once more,
Resurrected by his Creator again.
And thus does Allah reveal an ayah, a sign—
That after death, life shall exist indeed
Death is but a breeze, yet only when
In life, faith blossomed from a seed.
–A.S.
I find that, all too often, when I need some form of advice, my mother always gives the best ones.
Early this week, I made a very difficult decision– something she knew I’d do eventually, despite my determination to initially go in a different direction.
I then asked her: “Mother, you knew I would come to this conclusion. Yet you still let me do my own thing. Why?”
Mother: “Well, I didn’t want to interfere with your life, I wanted you to see for yourself what was best for you.”
Me: “But you knew this would happen. How did you know, mom? How do you always know what I’m going to do, how I’m feeling about this and that, what so-and-so is going to do or react, before any of it happens? How do you accurately predict the outcomes in situations you yourself were never in? How do you know me better than I know myself?”
At this point, she gives me one of her incomparably beautiful smiles and and says,
“Aya, I carried you in my womb for nine months. How can I not know you?”
Truly, mother knows best, and I don’t think I will find another living person in this entire universe that I can love more than her. My mother, my mother, my mother.
–A.S.
You know what ticks me off? It’s when someone notices a trend going around, and, without thinking rationally about whether or not there is actually a noble output to this action, blindly joins, and believes she is making the world a better place by raising ‘awareness’.
Are you confused? Let me walk you down the past 3 years’ weak forms of “breast cancer awareness” sparked all over Facebook.
There was this huge pandemonium that girls on Facebook created, supposedly only between themselves. Each girl had to put her bra color (the one she was currently wearing) as her Facebook status without saying what the color was related to. (i.e. red, blue, turquoise-with-polka dots, etc). Eventually it caught the guys’ attention– why was every girl’s status a color or a colorful description? What could it mean? Eventually, word leaked out it was bra color.
Excuse me, but can you explain to me how that was breast cancer awareness?
Did the world become a better place as a result of exposing your bra color? Did anyone REALLY get anything out of that except having an excuse to exclude an entire gender?
Seriously, tell me, why can’t men and women raise awareness together? Breast cancer affects mostly women but men have women in their families as well, and this must impact them also.
Since the trend was so popular the year before, the facebook statuses got a bit bolder this year. Every girl began inboxing every other girl to “put your status where you like to put your purse.” For example: I like it on the floor, I like it on the counter, I like it on the bed… ETC. You get the point. A seemingly very innocent statement is turned sexual when the context is not well-defined, and this wasn’t accidental; it was deliberate.
Most, if not all these girls would protest it was a heroic act to raise breast cancer awareness. But I don’t think the male species quite got it that way, and neither, by the way, did I. To me, it looked like a lame way of having an excuse to put a dirty/sexual status without feeling ashamed of doing so.
It seems to be getting worse every year. Miraculously, this trend is still popular, because there are individuals who would blindly go with the flow than think for themselves.
I just found out what this year’s theme is. My sister just finished politely replying to her friend that it was too inappropriate for her and she would not be participating. Here is the theme: “put your shoe size in inches, and how long it takes to do your hair in the mirror.”
… I won’t bother giving examples, I’m sure you get the picture.
—-
Now you may or may not be one of those people who uphold the belief that these flimsy statuses will cure breast cancer. But regardless who you are, if you really care about making a difference, there are more effective ways to do so.
Again, I voice the question: Why must raising awareness necessarily exclude the male gender on Facebook? Are we trying to raise awareness for men or for people in general?
Always ask yourself what your intention is in committing an action, even if it’s as insignificant as a Facebook status or a tweet. If the only answer you can come up with is “because everyone else is doing it”… well, that’s not so well actually.
God gave us all brains. For a reason. USE IT.
Peace,
A.S.