The Things We Miss Out On

Sometimes in our need for perfection, our need to always follow societal rules, our need to do things ‘the right way’, our need to be careful, our need to have structure in our lives and to always know exactly what is going on...or in our stubbornness in seeing things according to how we’ve been told we should see them, we tend to miss out on some very awesome things.

I’ve been thinking about this and here are some of the things that I think we miss out on for one or more of the reasons stated above:

â  We miss out on the sheer beauty of rain when we hastily make sure that we don’t get wet. –

     Yes I know that we’ve always been told that walking in the rain will make you sick, but this is not always true. When we stop and stand still, with sweet rain surrounding us, then we are able to appreciate the true miracle of rain.

â  We miss out on the beauty of shattered glass when we concern ourselves with the thing/s that have just broken-

     Have you ever noticed how beautiful shattered glass is? Each tiny little piece giving off its own shine, like a thousand little jewels. Of course we have to sweep it up otherwise someone is bound to get cut. But just before sweeping it up, if you take the time to observe it instead of becoming upset over the thing that has broken, you will see real beauty in those shattered pieces.

 

â  We miss out on the beauty of Winter because all we want to do is stay indoors in a warm place.

I’ve always wondered why people are so afraid of the cold. Once again we are told that you can get sick if you are out in the cold, but if you are dressed warmly enough then this isn’t that likely. I’ve been out in the cold many times and haven’t gotten sick because of it. I often notice that in Winter, those outdoor places which are so full of people in Summer, is empty as everyone is indoors. Maybe the outdoor quietness in winter makes it easier to appreciate how truly beautiful a winter’s day can be.

â  We miss out on the sweet smiles of innocent children because we are too busy shouting at them all the time.

People seem to constantly be shouting at children. There are all these rules which need to be followed , then there’s school and homework,  and there’s very little time for children to play. But when you take the time to watch them playing, you will observe their beautiful smiles and colourful laughter and you will remember the beauty that comes with innocence like that. Parents shouldn’t only appreciate their children when they are asleep.

  

â  We miss out on the beauty of a moth because we’ve been told that butterflies are more beautiful.

Most people regard moths as bothersome creatures, yet when they see butterflies they are delighted. I find this quite strange, considering how similar moths and butterflies really are. So moths may not have strikingly colourful wings, but have you ever noticed their wings. The artistry is amazing, SubhanAllah, and each moth has a different design on its wings. If you observe a moth you will know what I’m talking about.

(This one reminds me of what people are like also, we focus so much on popular ideas of beauty that we miss out on recognising true beauty in people).

â  We miss out on the early morning beauty when we sleep late

This one is self explanatory. Those who are usually awake before sunrise will know what I’m talking about. The beautiful skies just after the sun comes out can not be seen at any other time during the day, and not to mention the true peace which can only be found very early in the morning.

â  We miss out on our connection with our Creator when we are too busy with the creation

We’ve become so busy with everyday life that we are too tired to even think and ponder about the One who created us. Noise fills our lives in so many different forms and our minds are so full of the thousand different things we have to do that it’s hard to actually build a true connection with our Creator.

â  We miss out on the wisdom of the elderly when we cast them aside

One of our biggest downfalls in today’s times is that we do not make enough time for the elderly. A lot of the time older people are cast aside, put in nursing homes or not paid much attention to. This is to our own detriment. I mean can you imagine living for like 60 or 70 years, even 80 years in some cases. There’s no way you can live that long without learning anything valuable. When we spend time with old people we learn from their lessons as well as their examples.

I’m sure that if we all take the time we will find many other things that we miss out on, and in fact I urge anyone to write about what they think we miss out on as well.

I have learnt that true beauty and wisdom exists in the places and things we never expect to find them. Keep your eyes open and look beyond things and you will find it.

And The Winners Are...

Masha'Allah, congratulations to all the nominees of the 2012 Tribute Awards, and thanks to all those who voted.

While I still believe that every one of you are winners in your own right, we do only have space for three winners of this competition.

But before I post the awards, I want to make a prayer for all my blogging sisters and myself:

 May we all always have the right intention, may we spread truth and goodness and invite people to good while forbidding them from evil. May our words be a source of inspiration to others and may we all be rewarded by the Best Rewarder, Allah Almighty, Creator of everything. May Allah accept our efforts and be pleased with us, Inshaa-Allah.

So without further ado, here are the 2012 winners for The Tribute Awards:

Well done ladies, your blogs are indeed an inspiration to others.

You can start voting now

Okay, so we have the final list of nominees for The 2012 Tribute Awards.


The voting poll can be found in the sidebarof this blog. Please note that since I had some technical problems I had to put up two separate polls so please regard this as one poll and remember that there are 8 nominees for the awards. (I apologise about this)


If you are not familiar with these blogs then check them out now and cast your votes.
If you are familiar with them then now's the time to vote for the blogs you love reading.


Here is the complete list of nominees:

Safiyah's Musings

Guard Your Heart

Talibatul ‘ilm

BlessingsThrough Trials

Dear Little Auntie

Diary of a Heart in Transit

Stay Blessed

Inspiring Always

Happy Voting everyone and all the best for the nominees!

Time's running out for nominations!!!

Just a quick reminder:

The time's running out for nominations to be posted for The Tribute Awards.

I had planned for nominations to be in by this Sunday and hoping that voting can begin on Monday so please don't forget to add your nominations to the comments secrion of this post.

Thank you all and stay in Peace

The Tribute Awards 2012

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while now may remember The Tribute Award which we had last year. From my side it was a lot of fun so I decided to run it again this year. And also, I think that my fellow blogging sisters need to be honoured and this is one small way to do that.  

So here’s a recap of what it is, but you can also check out my post on this from last year.

The purpose of The Tribute Awards is as follows:

The aim of this award is to pay tribute to the amazing women who are out there taking the time to share their opinions about things and just to tell us what they're thinking.

Here’s how it works:

You will have 1 week to nominate the blogs that you think deserve
The Tribute Award. 

- You can simply add your nominations to the comments below this post.

- On Sunday, 18 March 2012, the nominations will close. - I will then put up a poll and voting will take place for 3 days inshaa'Allah.

- On Thursday 22 March 2012 the winners will be announced on this blog.
- There will be three winners...

Gold (1st), Silver (2nd) and Bronze (3rd)

So, I'm pretty sure that this year's awards are going to be fun once again, and I'm looking forward to it!

YOU CAN START POSTING NOMINATIONS RIGHT AWAY!

PS: Please do not nominate this blog. While I really appreciate the support, this award is my way of honouring all of you so I would not like to be nominated along with you all.  

Thanks in Advance to you all, hope you enjoy it!!!

The world is gone mad!

Do you ever feel that there are so many strange and shocking things happening in the world today that nothing else can shock you? I feel this way often. We are constantly bombarded with things that are unthinkable, the news is filled with horrendous stories, there are crazy things going on in our own communities, and even in our own families and sometimes I just have to shake my head and sigh, resigning myself to the fact that indeed the world is a crazy place and people seem to just be completely off the mark.

But then every now and again something happens that does shock and upset me, and I have to wonder how much crazier are things going to get?

Last week was one of those moments, a very sad and shocking occurrence happened in our very community at the school one of my nephew’s attends. Here’s how the story apparently went, and please bear in mind that in all events things always get distorted to some extent so no one really knows the absolute truth. Also, I am not re-telling this story here to gossip, may Allah save us all from that. I am relating the event so that we can all understand the trouble that the world is in and how we need to become proactive. In any case...here goes...

I read the story in the news the evening after it happened, and I was shocked because I know that’s the school my sister’s stepson goes to, and then she told us the whole story. A grade 11 child got stabbed and killed outside the school, as school was coming out, while parents were still waiting to pick their children up. My brother-in-law saw the scuffle, but only came to find out what happened afterwards. Apparently a Grade 9 girl who is pregnant and still at school got kicked in her stomach with a soccer ball accidentally while some boys were playing soccer. She told whoever she did about it and her brother who is about 16 years old and previously got expelled from the same school, came to school to fight with the boy who was responsible for kicking the soccer ball. He brought with him 4 of his friends (aged between 16 and 28) and of course a knife that stabbed that Grade 11 boy. The boy got stabbed in his neck, was rushed to hospital but died on the way there.  Fate had it that there was a policeman at the school picking his own child up from school, and he saw what was going on, called for backup, and all 5 boys/men were arrested at the scene.

My sister also came to find out that some of the children involved were kids who previously attended the Primary school at which she taught. She and her husband who both taught at the same Primary school, knew these children, they were community children; one of their parents was an Imam. Something seriously had to be going wrong there.

The saddest thing is that not only is this a tragic event for the innocent child who was killed and his family, who must be going through unimaginable grief, pain and anger. But for all the other people involved this is tragic as well. There were two 16 year old boys involved, and the one responsible for the actual stabbing was only 16 years old. Can you believe that? To be sitting in jail at that young age. And the girl who is pregnant- not only does she have to contend with a teenage pregnancy, now she has this burden to carry with her as well, and burden’s such as these are not easy to get rid of. Imagine knowing that you are responsible for your brother and his friends sitting in jail. It’s all just one big crazy mess! Not only are these youngsters’ lives messed up, but their families as well have to deal with all this tragedy.

So 6 families are going through such difficulty right now, because of one event, which could have easily been avoided; but since the world has indeed gone mad, this was not avoided. The families did not know what their young children were getting up to. The children did not know how to control their emotions and restrain their actions. They did not understand that violence such as this cannot solve problems, and can only make things worse. In short, if this was not a world gone mad, then 14 year old schoolgirls would not be pregnant, and young boys playing soccer and mistakenly kicking the ball at the girl would not be such a problem, and a young child would not be stabbed in the neck and attacked by five other young people; outside a school, a place of learning, where innocent children are supposed to go to receive an education. Parents would not be weeping, for their dead child, or their pregnant teenage daughter, or of course for their young sons who are sitting in jail, awaiting their horrible fate.

Image from here

No, this has to be a world gone mad! Or I should say a world filled with people who have gone mad! The most unthinkable things happen these days, and the worse thing is that we are becoming so desensitized that we don’t truly realize the real impact of all this madness that we are surrounded by.

I’d like to run away to an Island, where I can be free from all the madness, where I can be surrounded by the magnificent ocean, and take in the fresh air. But I know that this is not a solution at all. This is not becoming proactive, this is running away and selfishly avoiding reality. I need to be here, within the madness, and I, along with everyone else need to become proactive. We need to do more to get through to our youth. We need to teach them the right things, we need to emulate the true examples and we need to get them involved in positive things. The best way to become proactive is to practise the best example that we have. This is the example of our beloved Master, the most Noble Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). He had all the answers; we have all the answers that he had because he has given them to us. We just need to go back to it, because we have put it away somewhere out of reach and we have ignored it and now we are facing the consequences of our actions.

May Allah Almighty give ease to all the families involved, may He save the youngsters involved in this case from further destruction and allow this negative experience to be transformed into a positive life lesson for them; May he help this young girl and ease her burden and May Allah be with all the youth, because they are our future, and if our future generation has gone mad then what hope do we have of gaining any sanity in the future?

Image 1 from here