WHEN
DID WE START LIVING THIS UNREALITY?
____________________
AN ESSAY BY RAVEN
Driving to my grandfather’s house for a family gathering, thinking over my day’s schedule, ideas flashing here and there, I started thinking deeply. When did we get so dedicated to life? When did we become so hooked to our jobs and studies? When did we get so distant from our religion and our national traditions? Why can we remember the name of an actor in a good movie so well, and not remember the names of the ten people the prophet assured to go to paradise? Some people spend all their spare time nagging over who is prettier, Jennifer Anniston or Cameron Diaz. Others, with nothing better to do, fight over whether Ronaldo or David Beckham is richer. Not to mention those who undermine you for not knowing enough details and gossip about movie stars, sitcom actors, and Italian footballers.
I passed my old school and smiled, recalling the days we spent there getting into all kinds of mischief. It was a great school and it directed us to our different paths in life. But now we are in the real world, that’s if it’s still called the real world? I prefer calling it the “unreal” world. I don’t believe we are living a reality at all. Muslims detested everywhere; certain Arabs strengthening the negative stereotypes that the World’s nations already have of us; distrust spreading between the deepest and closest friends; people not believing in true love anymore; the religious police force partly made up of ex-prisoners; teenagers running after lust and forgetting there was something called “romance;” people taking rappers, rock stars, soccer players, and actors as their role models; these composing only part of the unreality we now live in. You also see people gazing in awe at someone playing a musical instrument, wishing they had half his or her talent, forgetting that this person might never go to heaven.
These days it’s almost impossible to find anyone wanting to walk in the footsteps of Omar or Abu Bakr, the great Caliphs of the Muslim nation. You see people reading magazines and Stephen King novels, never thinking of reading a biography of one of the prophet’s companions. You see more and more people with funky haircuts, but no 21st century Malcolm Xs walking around. You see more and more people in malls, and less and less people in mosques.
Another
important question arises: Why are some people so fake? If Ramadan comes,
they hurry to Makkah and aim to finish the Quran before the month ends. A
week after that, they make reservations to spend their Hajj vacation in
Why is life becoming so important to us?? Parents are planning their children’s careers when they are in grade school, and not caring much about whether or not they are sending a positive and well-mannered individual into the world. You see more and more young ones disrespecting their parents, and many teenagers that hate their dads and moms. We also have a new generation of nanny-raised children. These are children that spend 90% of their time with maids because their mothers are too busy with social gatherings, talking on the phone, and shopping; these children are being raised with no morals, no goals, and nothing that makes them strive to make a difference.
Still other questions pop up like: Why can’t some families gather except when there is something like a death or a major car accident in the family? Why does it take the death of a loved one to make us remember that there is heaven, hell, and the hereafter? All these issues delineate the unreality we now live in. But in my case, I want OUT. I want to exit this crooked matrix and enter a world where truth prevails, a world where religion is spread by virtue and good treatment, not force, where you are respected whoever you are and whatever you do, a utopia where your friends are still your friends, even when you aren’t there, a world where you can always lay your head on your pillow and never think of tomorrow, a place with no negative consequences and no back-stabbing. So, does anyone wish to join me?
http://www.wts-online.com/before/q303/2.htm