What a Beauty!

I have many different kinds of friends and sometimes I often think it's my fault that we have problems because I feel a bit negative toward them. So it helps if I think things through and try to analyze why I feel like that. I found that people are just different. Yet even though we are different, we are all like so many pieces in a mosaic that if we can just learn to fit together (work harmoniously) and acknowledge each other's importance in the shape of things, then mankind will make a beautiful picture.

So as I sat and watched the boats, I began to think. Because I was a bit far away I couldn't see the people working on the boats, so it seemed just like it was me and the ships. And my mind set to work.

I found that I have some friends who are always helping me. They are the ones who never complain; they carry the heavy loads of others and are bright and breezy and always positive. They are the tugboats of life.

Then there are the boring people who do their duty in life but without shining or brightness. They don't really give happiness or hope to others; they are just there. The cargo ships, the carriers, the ferries—the silent, strong, and steady voiceless ships that pass us by without us really noticing them. Can you imagine life without cargo ships? They serve important purposes of carrying life-giving goods but they seem lifeless in themselves; just carriers. I don't want to be a cargo ship.

Most people stand up and admire the ocean liners. Maybe because they carry the elite of the world on their luxury cruises, helping them to enjoy life instead of giving something back to it. They look nice; they appear indestructible—but then so did the Titanic! There are many people like ocean liners; they look good but they are only bent on enjoying life and taking from it, not on being instrumental to positive change or being a beneficial influence in someone's life. Ocean liners don't make good friends. When the going gets tough, they're off somewhere to have fun.

This made me think of the tugboats again. They are the ones that pull the exotic ocean liners and dull cargo ships out to sea so they can do their part in life. If it weren't for the tugboats of the world, those huge, costly, well-adorned luxury ships would sit and rot in port.

I love to watch the skips. They are light and fast. Always going somewhere. They fly past all the other kinds of crafts like liners, cargo ships, fishing boats, and tugboats. They know where they are going and how they are going to get there. Often you'll see them with an outboard motor and a sail. They're ready for nearly anything. They are graceful, positive-looking boats skimming across the surface of the water. They are ever young. Friends like that are maybe hard to keep up with, but life is sure exciting.

The ones you have to watch are the ones you can't always see. The submarines of life. They are strong and powerful and can see you when you can't see them. They have this advantage and are potentially dangerous. They'll just pop up and surprise you one day. No one really needs friends like that.

Now which kind of friend suits me? The whirling skips, the tired-looking cargo ships, the flighty liners, the hard-working, loyal tug boats? Hmmm, the quiet fishing boats, the row boats that only move when I move them, or the sail boat that is carried by the wind?

That's a good question but perhaps rather than ask myself which one suits me, I should find out which one I am like. That means I'll have to be honest with myself, which is difficult to do at times and often painful. How do others see me?

But anyway, at the end of the day each one plays an important part and we can't really do without any one of them—boats or people. For each one, if we sit back and admire its individuality, its beauty, its purpose and charm, we'd say, “What a beauty!”

Latiefa Achmat is an Islamic counselor and social worker in Cape Town, South Africa. She can be contacted at youth_campaign@iolteam.com.