Shocked ?

Are you daily shocked ?¨

I don't know who you are but am assuming you are some level headed person with some common sense, and some humanity left.

If you are not shocked on a daily basis, there is something very wrong with you. You have lost the Essential.

If you are not jolted out of your socks daily by what's happening in the world, in particular in this part of the world, then I might as well recite the Fatiha on you, the prayer for the dead.

Aren't these happenings supposed to wake you up ? Is that not why they keep happening over and over again ?

What good are your prayers, your supplications, your meditations if they don't wake you up ? They and you are totally useless.

However much we try to avoid it, we are part of the Whole and the Whole is part of us. However much we avoid it, we are inter-dependent, we live off each other. Parasites only live off other people, but am assuming you are not a parasite.

I assume much, because secretly I harbor Hope...

Keeping hope in the face of daily horror shocks is the first act of Resistance.

Gratitude...

Am writing this for me, a reminder.

At times, I can be an ungrateful bitch, because at times am myopic, can't see the whole picture, zoom in on what's wrong and not on what's going right. I am like everybody else in that regard. And when I fall into that, I need to kick myself hard in the ass.

Woke up this morning and the audio tape started in my head...caught myself doing it. I didn't like it at all.

I saw the glass half empty, well this is about to be corrected now. Why this ingratitude ?

I don't compare myself to others, people who are better off. I am content with whom and what I am, but when that negative tape is in my head, I force myself, open my eyes and compare myself to those who are worse off, much worse off.

What am I complaining about ? By the grace of God I have legs, some people are in wheelchairs
I can read, enjoy sights, some people are blind and need to be led
I can hear, listen to music, listen to sounds ,ok I hater noise pollution, but at least I can hear, some people can't.
I have food in my fridge, some people are starving
I turn on the tap and there's water, I switch on and there's electricity, some don't have that at all.
I have a roof over my head, some people live in tents or sleep on pavements
I have a computer to rant, an education as a cushion, some never make it to school
I have clothes to wear, some wear the same torn clothes for years
Am not rich, and that's fine, but I still can go out and sit in a cafe and have a coffee, some people don't even have that luxury.
I live in a relatively peaceful country, been saved from bombs, electricity cuts, lack of water, run down hospitals, kidnappings, abductions, and being stuck between 4 walls because it's too dangerous to venture out...

So on what basis do I complain, and on what basis do I allow myself to be unhappy like this morning ?

This is my own doing.

Time to call in Gratitude.

Al-Hamdulillah.

All praise, glory and thanks to the Most High. That's Freedom.