Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Thinking out loud...

Chances are that if you're reading this, you are richer than most people on this planet; you have the basic necessities of life (food, clothing, shelter), and you have some additional luxuries such as access to the internet, you can read and write (and yes, believe it or not, even now, education is a luxury which many still can't afford), family, friends...if you and I were to sit and count all of the blessings we have in our lives, myself included, we could likely go on for quite some time just talking about that. But what I want to tackle today is what are we doing with these luxuries, myself included.

Take money for instance - as young adults, we prize ourselves on the fact that we have a job and are able to pay the bills and make ends meet; but what's the point of all this money if all we do is the bare minimum - pay bills, and go on shopping and eating sprees? Or what about our time - which I like to refer to as this foreign concept that I can longer make sense of - in between life's obligations like work, school, job, friends, family, religion - there's very little left of it - and even that which we do have, I'll be the first one to admit that I should receive the procrastinator, time-waster award of the year...the case in point is this - what are we really doing with our lives? Are we just going about as robots, treating every phase in our life as a ritual practice - minding our own business, making ends meet, immune or better yet, somehow trained ourselves to ignore and desensitize ourselves to all the turmoil, trials and tribulations that we know are  happening - in our own backyards and all around the world....

I was reading the article by Nosheen Iqbal about Dr. Abbas Khan's mother's response to her son's murder in Syria (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/07/british-doctor-abbas-khan-syrian-jail-murdered) - who basically left this world serving others; he first went to Turkey for ten days to treat injured Syrian refugees and then went to Syria where he was captured and then eventually killed - for serving others. I personally know of another friend's husband who died in Egypt while peacefully protesting, someone else who's being held captive, family of friends who live in fear every day in Iraq - women afraid of being raped, men afraid of being kidnapped...and in our own Canadian backyards, human trafficking (yup right here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/native-canadian-women-sold-on-u-s-ships-researcher-says-1.1325167), youth suicides in Northern communities - conditions equivalent to third world countries if not worse, domestic violence/abuse...the list goes on and on...

Let's be proactive in our efforts - it's our moral and basic human responsibility to help one another, stand up and support one another; stand side by side against oppression, violence, poverty, abuse...I'm not saying we pack our bags and go, but let's think and be creative in how we can give back with all the blessings we do have in our lives...whether it be through donations, volunteering for an organization, or just helping someone in need...

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in 

the service of others." - Mahatma Gandhi 





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