Guest Blogger #2 - Jughead's Double Digest

"Be the change that you want to see in the world"

Even before the advent of the wonderful film Lage Raho Munna Bhai, I was very impressed with certain quotations and sayings from Mohandas Gandhi. The above one is a particular favourite of mine and I feel that the older I get or the more advanced the world becomes this quote has more and more resonance with me.

I have begun to feel this way because as I see it the world is becoming increasingly barbaric and inhuman, and has appeared to have consolidated its position as a separate entity from its Creator very well. More and more people have less and less faith and this is what is inherently destroying any morality the world might once have had. If, for example every person practiced their religion; be it Islam, Christianity, Judaism or Buddhism; there wouldn't be any need for wars and mass murder. Religion has no place for excess greed or unnecessary violence and bloodshed. That is the beauty of the word 'Religion'. It doesn't matter which one: all religions revere the sanctity of human life and a person who wakes up one day and decides today is the day he will rape a little girl and then murder her should not just think he can do so without any consequences.

Of course there are other factors as to why the world is heading towards a state of immorality, illiteracy, poverty and violence - but I do feel lack of religion and faith is a big one. So back to Gandhi: his quote is very valid for me because it makes us realise that there is only so much we can do to save the world and that our foremost duty is to change ourselves and make sure that we do what God expects from us and also what we expect from ourselves. Following on from this comes our duty to inform and guide others, 'sharing the knowledge' is a duty for us as well. Let’s face it, the world is never likely to be a 'good' place where millions of different cultures peacefully co-exist and support each other. Greed will always be prevalent among human beings because it is human nature to desire more. Most of us limit that desire to things we can successfully achieve through our own means in a halal way. It is the few that will destroy anything in their path be it an innocent young child or a whole entire country which is (unfortunate) enough to have good oil links that are slowly but surely causing the moral decay that is infiltrating our world.

Having said this however, I don't feel that life in general or the world were ever designed to be great all the time. If life was always good and the world was rid of evil we doubtless wouldn't make so much of an effort to better ourselves for the next life. I know there has to be more than this. Thank God I have it easy in life compared to some people. Can the atheist not see that for someone who has spent their entire life in a war torn village in Africa; living amongst war and violence and surviving on one meal of stale bread and water a day that there must be more than this? Can the atheist not see that for a person who has spent their entire life blind, deaf and dumb and who therefore hasn't experienced the laughter of a child or the sight of a beautiful sunrise that there must be more than this? Surely these two human beings cannot have been created simply to go through pain and suffering in life without there being something else waiting for them in the next life. It just doesn't make sense.

Lately I've started to feel that life is all about perspective. If I'm angry I think about the person growing up in Africa and it helps to put my own anger into perspective. If I'm feeling upset or ungrateful about something I think about the person born without three of his major senses and again my situation immediately gets put into perspective. I sometimes see this as slightly wrong since their plight often ends up making me feels better! But I have a feeling Allah wants us to realise this so that we continue to be grateful for everything he has given us.

So there's my rant over with for today! Lest I leave you all with a somber start to the weekend Scottish Dentist advised me to ensure I leave the blog on a lighter hearted note.

Speaking of the blog, I have to say I am utterly impressed at 2YIIAM's recent efforts at blogging. I think he is a brilliant writer and has an educated and interesting point of view on a range of topics. I really enjoy reading the blogs and hope that he will somehow continue them through the tumultuous A & E! His persistent efforts at acquiring more and more religious knowledge are very commendable and not only that he is influencing the rest of us too.

I also hope Watford Man continues his input into the blogs. Seeing some of your stuff on here recently has reminded me of school and university days where you knew a lot more than most of my teachers and helped me immensely as a result!

I guess one of the really important things in life is having a good support network made up of friends and family. I am very fortunate in this regard and to be honest life would be a lot tougher without it. While the Scottish Dentist (hopefully soon to be Stevenage Dentist :-)) is my greatest friend and someone who I can count on no matter what, I am lucky enough to have several other important people in my life and a lot of them are in 2YYIAM's Bloggers World!

Have a good weekend everyone and here's a little joke to leave you all with...

The Old Monk
A new monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to help the other monks in copying the old texts by hand. He notices, however, that they are copying copies, not the original books. So, the new monk goes to the head monk to ask him about this.
He points out that if there were an error in the first copy, that error would be continued in all of the other copies. The head monk says "We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but you make a good point, my son."
So, he goes down into the cellar with one of the copies to check it against the original. Hours later, nobody has seen him. So, one of the monks goes downstairs to look for him. He hears a sobbing coming from the back of the cellar, and finds the old monk leaning over one of the original books crying. He asks what's wrong.

The old monk sobs, "The word is celebrate."

Especially published for 'Doctor's Free Time'