Which then, of the favours of your Lord wills O Jinn and men you twain will deny?
Salaam...
I've just plowed through a horde of blogs that I usually frequent. Usually they are the blogs of my friends who are on exchange. I just discovered a few of them went for exchange and I never knew they did, and somehow it irked me that I never noticed. Comm Studies is a small faculty and this semester really made me feel lonely at certain periods of time; when I did ISP, I told myself that I would have to trust people I don't know and never worked with to ask for help. I mean, we all know how Erwin Nah is the Master of All Electronic Systems and I, too, over-depend on him for his Great Knowledge and Skills in Electronic Arts. (guffaws). But anyway, I remember reading their pioneer entries, about how they cannot wait to leave Singapore 4 months back. Now, so many of them are coming back home. And I can sense a certain... reluctance to leave but also the strong, strong urge to come back. Some even wanted to come back and would prefer to label their experience in the "other" country as "different". Some said that they discovered there are lands beyond Woodlands Checkpoint and Changi International Airport and they relish the ordered things back home, because it is just familiar, than having to make new friends, friends who are even more different than the multi-racial landscape back in Singapore.
Anyway, my point is, I guess we are all fortunate enough to feel belonged in some place. Whether we are from Indonesia, Iran, China, India, there's a need to go home. It is amazing isn't it, that Allah SWT placed us on different locations on Earth but ordained that we meet and converge some place else. Or that people are brought to us, especially if we have no resources to travel on our own. Some people asked me why I never went on Exchange and my reply has always been "I never found the need to." I have my family to take care of, I need to work to sustain myself, and I need to know my school better. Allah had it that I met NTUMS (oh how romantic :P) and now, I am going on a personal exchange to Cambodia. So I guess in this global times, even if we don't travel, travel will come to us. I have so many international friends over the Internet, and on has already become so intimate and close despite the distance between us.
My mother was commenting that day how come there are so many Asians in Singapore. There has been an increase in the number of Pinoy, Chinese and American PRs. I meet so many as well during my stints in CTW every holiday and at times I feel blessed that I get to go out and meet so many different people without even having to travel. It is amazing to be able to teach kids of different nationalities while still retaining my identity. In short, I am glad they came to our country.
Yet Allah is fair and amazing in that He gives every one different rezekis, or different fortunes. While we have a nation that has paved a lot of things for us, there is high competition. People are rarely patriotic or rather closet to be so. People complain all the time and customer service here is bad streak. Yet, over in some parts of India, where disasters abound, people have no hesitations to sing their national anthems in heavy rain, has nothing to be ashamed off despite their meagre and simple conditions. Look at the Indonesians. They come over to Singapore and they ensure that they never forget their roots. They uphold their cultural dances, their cultural practices, their PINTU and KUNTUM and what-have-yous. They ensure that they stay strong and united, and together in a foreign environment so that they can thrive as an individual and as a community. How many of us Singaporeans will actually do all that, going beyond weekly meetings in a foreign context, to actually stay together?
There have been many times when I talked to international brothers and sisters, and they all say the same thing about Singapore. "Oh you guys are very lucky. So many things come to you. Even if things are difficult, there are ways to fight the system. For us, we are always in a battle and sometimes we don't know what our future will be."
I hope that at least, being in a country where people from all nationalities come to us, we can take away some lessons for the future. Some of us will meet spouses who will want to live overseas, and perhaps these lessons and bonds that we have made with foreigners here in Singapore can be put to good use, can be utilized well, when we venture overseas. Some of us will continue staying here till the day we die, for many reasons, either because there are simply so many things to do here that can never be accomplished. There are so many people to serve over here, to bring forward, that perhaps going overseas may not be a very realistic option in such situations. But nonetheless, let us not put people in categories and push them aside because they are different. Think global and act local.
Verse of the day:
I was just thinking about the environment the other day and chanced upon Surah ar-Rahman (ayat 7 to 12):
And the sky, Allah has elevated it and set the balance.
That you may not transgress in the balance.
And keep up the weight with justice, and shorten not the weight.
And the earth, He has laid for the creatures.
There in are fruits and palm trees with sheaths.
And grain with husk and fray. rant flowers.
Which then, of the favours of your Lord wills O Jinn and men you twain will deny?
MasyaAllah...
I guess many of us have heard about cyclone Narqis in Myanmar. I have been to Myanmar once, back in JC 2, to interact with orphans, especially monk orphans. When I was there, I was 17 and now I'm 21. 4 years have passed, and so many of those young orphans, most who stayed in Yangon, must be adolescents now. I will never know where they are, and their charming and sweet faces, tanned brown from the sun, and their bald heads and cheeky smiles, still shine brightly in my heads. And deep down inside, they are no different from the children that I will insyaAllah have some day. I wonder where they are now, and if they have enough food to eat, and whether they have a safe place to stay. Wallahu'alam, only Allah knows where they are. That we are made different, does not mean that we are utterly different. The value of mankind still stands; we all appreciate the same basic needs and we all need the same necessities. Yet, He has made us grow up in different backgrounds and made us meet. I still find that amazing, wonderful and unfathomable, masyaAllah. Only He knows... only He knows...
Wassalam,
Nabila
I've just plowed through a horde of blogs that I usually frequent. Usually they are the blogs of my friends who are on exchange. I just discovered a few of them went for exchange and I never knew they did, and somehow it irked me that I never noticed. Comm Studies is a small faculty and this semester really made me feel lonely at certain periods of time; when I did ISP, I told myself that I would have to trust people I don't know and never worked with to ask for help. I mean, we all know how Erwin Nah is the Master of All Electronic Systems and I, too, over-depend on him for his Great Knowledge and Skills in Electronic Arts. (guffaws). But anyway, I remember reading their pioneer entries, about how they cannot wait to leave Singapore 4 months back. Now, so many of them are coming back home. And I can sense a certain... reluctance to leave but also the strong, strong urge to come back. Some even wanted to come back and would prefer to label their experience in the "other" country as "different". Some said that they discovered there are lands beyond Woodlands Checkpoint and Changi International Airport and they relish the ordered things back home, because it is just familiar, than having to make new friends, friends who are even more different than the multi-racial landscape back in Singapore.
Anyway, my point is, I guess we are all fortunate enough to feel belonged in some place. Whether we are from Indonesia, Iran, China, India, there's a need to go home. It is amazing isn't it, that Allah SWT placed us on different locations on Earth but ordained that we meet and converge some place else. Or that people are brought to us, especially if we have no resources to travel on our own. Some people asked me why I never went on Exchange and my reply has always been "I never found the need to." I have my family to take care of, I need to work to sustain myself, and I need to know my school better. Allah had it that I met NTUMS (oh how romantic :P) and now, I am going on a personal exchange to Cambodia. So I guess in this global times, even if we don't travel, travel will come to us. I have so many international friends over the Internet, and on has already become so intimate and close despite the distance between us.
My mother was commenting that day how come there are so many Asians in Singapore. There has been an increase in the number of Pinoy, Chinese and American PRs. I meet so many as well during my stints in CTW every holiday and at times I feel blessed that I get to go out and meet so many different people without even having to travel. It is amazing to be able to teach kids of different nationalities while still retaining my identity. In short, I am glad they came to our country.
Yet Allah is fair and amazing in that He gives every one different rezekis, or different fortunes. While we have a nation that has paved a lot of things for us, there is high competition. People are rarely patriotic or rather closet to be so. People complain all the time and customer service here is bad streak. Yet, over in some parts of India, where disasters abound, people have no hesitations to sing their national anthems in heavy rain, has nothing to be ashamed off despite their meagre and simple conditions. Look at the Indonesians. They come over to Singapore and they ensure that they never forget their roots. They uphold their cultural dances, their cultural practices, their PINTU and KUNTUM and what-have-yous. They ensure that they stay strong and united, and together in a foreign environment so that they can thrive as an individual and as a community. How many of us Singaporeans will actually do all that, going beyond weekly meetings in a foreign context, to actually stay together?
There have been many times when I talked to international brothers and sisters, and they all say the same thing about Singapore. "Oh you guys are very lucky. So many things come to you. Even if things are difficult, there are ways to fight the system. For us, we are always in a battle and sometimes we don't know what our future will be."
I hope that at least, being in a country where people from all nationalities come to us, we can take away some lessons for the future. Some of us will meet spouses who will want to live overseas, and perhaps these lessons and bonds that we have made with foreigners here in Singapore can be put to good use, can be utilized well, when we venture overseas. Some of us will continue staying here till the day we die, for many reasons, either because there are simply so many things to do here that can never be accomplished. There are so many people to serve over here, to bring forward, that perhaps going overseas may not be a very realistic option in such situations. But nonetheless, let us not put people in categories and push them aside because they are different. Think global and act local.
Verse of the day:
I was just thinking about the environment the other day and chanced upon Surah ar-Rahman (ayat 7 to 12):
And the sky, Allah has elevated it and set the balance.
That you may not transgress in the balance.
And keep up the weight with justice, and shorten not the weight.
And the earth, He has laid for the creatures.
There in are fruits and palm trees with sheaths.
And grain with husk and fray. rant flowers.
Which then, of the favours of your Lord wills O Jinn and men you twain will deny?
MasyaAllah...
I guess many of us have heard about cyclone Narqis in Myanmar. I have been to Myanmar once, back in JC 2, to interact with orphans, especially monk orphans. When I was there, I was 17 and now I'm 21. 4 years have passed, and so many of those young orphans, most who stayed in Yangon, must be adolescents now. I will never know where they are, and their charming and sweet faces, tanned brown from the sun, and their bald heads and cheeky smiles, still shine brightly in my heads. And deep down inside, they are no different from the children that I will insyaAllah have some day. I wonder where they are now, and if they have enough food to eat, and whether they have a safe place to stay. Wallahu'alam, only Allah knows where they are. That we are made different, does not mean that we are utterly different. The value of mankind still stands; we all appreciate the same basic needs and we all need the same necessities. Yet, He has made us grow up in different backgrounds and made us meet. I still find that amazing, wonderful and unfathomable, masyaAllah. Only He knows... only He knows...
Wassalam,
Nabila