Life
is all about survival of the fittest, isn’t it? It's a dog eat
dog world, right? Everyone is out for themselves, so why should
I be any different? The world owes me a living, doesn’t it?
Why shouldn’t I be able to just sit back in my own home, doing
whatever I feel like? No one should have the right to come and
bother me!
There
are some people in the world who subscribe to these views. Such
people are some of the fortunate few in this world: those who
have a home to live in, food to eat everyday, an expected
income, people who care about them, hope for the future, and a
means to get what they dream of. Are you one of those fortunate
few? If you have access to the Internet and can read this
article, my guess is that you are.
One
strange thing about our modern world is that the rich seem to be
getting richer and the poor are spiraling down a dismal slide.
Yet when we talk, we tend to talk about freedom, rights, and all
that kind of thing. But who is enjoying all this? Very few
people in the world today have all these luxuries.
So,
if you are one of those fortunate few who have a summer to
enjoy, a chance to get bored (meaning you are not being worked
or starved to death or killed in some unjust war) and you have a
television, friends, food, and energy to argue, then you have a
responsibility that you may not have thought about yet. You
share this responsibility with many others in the world who are
often too busy enjoying what they have and complaining about
what they do not have, to think about other people.
Just
imagine for a moment that the tables of life are turned. I mean,
that you are not one of the fortunate few in the world who lives
a life of relative ease. Imagine you do not have a family to
care about you. Now, initially you might be overjoyed to be free
of nagging parents and bothersome younger brothers and sisters,
but sit and think for a minute about how life would be if you
were really alone.
When
you are tired at the end of a busy day at school (you are
fortunate enough to be able to attend school and not be one of
the millions of child laborers in the world) and you come home
and there is food prepared for you. It means someone has gone to
the trouble to buy food, prepare it, cook it, serve it, and wash
up after you have finished! Then you think about your homework
and sit at your desk (you have a desk, hmm, quite a novelty in
some parts of the world) and study, dreaming of the day you will
not have to do this any more; the day you will be a doctor, or a
teacher, or a something that you would like to be. Hmm, hope for
the future is pretty nice, isn’t it?
Do
you feel lucky? Do you feel blessed? Would you like to swap
places with refugees who have been kicked out of their homes or
who have escaped in fear of their lives? Would you like to swap
places with a young person who has been abused, neglected,
kicked out, or lost in the complexities of this life, with no
one to turn to? Or perhaps you would like to swap places with
orphans who live on the street and beg for food? What about
swapping with the people who live in peril of disease because
there is not enough medicine or doctors? Doesn’t sound too
great, does it?
But,
you might ask, what does all this have to do with me? I did not
ask to be born into my family and have all the opportunities I
enjoy. Is it my fault that I am one of the privileged few?
My
answer to that is of course you did not choose your family or
where you would be born and where you would live and so on. But
the other question is who gave all this to you? Are you so
special that you deserve all that you have? Is there any
difference between you and other young people in different parts
of the world who do not have what you enjoy? There is no
difference. Allah the Creator of all shares out the joys and
sorrows of this world; some get more of this and others get more
of that, but the story does not stop there.
The
poor and needy of this world have a right over you! Yes, you!
They have a right over your extra wealth, your kindness, your
generosity, your time, and your effort. When Allah gives
something to someone, be sure it is a test to see what he or she
will do with that thing.
Do
you honestly believe you have been created to live in this world
simply to enjoy yourself? Take a look around and notice how the
tables of life can turn very suddenly. One day a person can be
rich and at ease and the next day, whammy, everything changes
and that same person is left with nothing. What makes you so
sure that your life will stay the way it is? Do you remember
that Allah sees everything and hears everything? The people who
think life owes them a living without them having to give
anything back to the lives of others is simply not real.
So,
what is the lesson in all this? Ok, you are one of the fortunate
few, but keep in mind that if you do not show your thankfulness
to Allah for what you have by giving back some of your good
fortune to others, then Allah may give you a taste of the other
side of life. And the ones you may be neglecting in your
community now (the poor, the homeless, the helpless, and so on)
may get to reap your good fortune and, heaven forbid that if
that were to occur, they may sit back comfortably while looking
at you and say, “Why should I?”
