THE SIMPLE THINGS IN
LIFE
By : Lisa Azelan
Shopping in Milan, fine dining in the best restaurants in
Paris, or perhaps even get a taste of the world’s most expensive cupcake
adorned with gold glitters and served on a covered Villari 24-karat gold empire
cake stand in Dubai.
Perhaps these would be some of the responses of many
people when asked about
“What is the good life?”
We are so obsessed with living
the lifestyle of the rich and the famous, blinded by the seemingly blissful lives
of celebrities and business moguls we see on TV. But sadly many fail to realise
that some people are so poor, that all they have is money. What is the true
definition of a life well-lived? What is the answer to the great questions we
ask in life ie what do we live for? What adds meaning to our lives?
Since the dawn of time, man has been known to seek comfort
in a Greater Being. Anthropologists have uncovered the mysteries and tales of
olden times and studied their behaviours and activities of any particular
belonging era. It is interesting to note, that of all the eras and empires that
has risen and fallen, one thing remained constant through it all; the presence
of shrines or temples or proof that there has been religion or worship at that
particular time.
This shows that it is in the innate being of human to worship
and seek solace in meditation and praying. Religion gives you comfort and a
sense of purpose, redirecting your life for a greater cause and offer answers
to the Great Perhaps. Many atheists or anti-theism movements would highly beg
to differ, saying that there is no place for religion and God in this era of
science and technology, and yet they still could not disprove nor prove the
existence of God. The absence of proof is not proof of absence. As for a firm
believer like myself, I would say that a life that has meaning is a life lived
within a set of principles we subscribe and practice to ie religion.
One of the many delights of life many would agree,would be
music. Music gives you the sense of liberation and gives freedom to express and
be creative. The unparalleled joy of getting together with a group of friends
or maybe even strangers and music-making together gives a beautiful feeling of
being lost, but not wanting to be found.
Music is also believed to be integral
and essential in psychotherapy and helps alleviate mood in depression and other
mood disorders. A child that learns a musical instrument is also more likely to
perform in school as music helps develop concentration and motivates a child to
be goal-oriented. Music also promotes unity and a healthy way of bringing
people together despite other ulterior differences. Truth is found in the words
of Shakespeare in Twelfth Night, 1602, “If music be the food of love, play on.”
No man is an
island. No matter how recluse a person tries to be, he has to admit albeit
begrudgingly, that no one can live and survive alone. It is in our nature to
love and be loved. We seek companionship to drive away the loneliness that
creeps and smothers us in the still of the night. Among the simple pleasures of
life, would be friendship or a sense of camaraderie. Lucky is the person who
has one or two good friends that he can run to in the middle of the night and
cared for unconditionally compared to the trend of having so many friends
especially on social networking sites but unfortunately enough all those are
only fair-weather friends, gone at the first sight of trouble.
A friend can
shape and define who you are as the hadith of the Prophet Muhammad is recorded
that a good friend and a bad friend is like a perfume seller and a blacksmith.
The perfume seller might give you some perfume as a gift, or you might buy some
from him, or at least you might smell its fragrance. As for the blacksmith, he
might singe your clothes, and at the very least you might breathe in the fumes
of the furnace. [Bukhari, Muslim].
On October 9 2012, the world was shocked into silence and
later on retaliated with a furore so intense when 15-year-old MalalaYousafzai
was shot in the head and neck at point-blank by the Talibans for promoting
education for girls in her hometown Pakistan, where so many girls are deprived
of education. Why did those Talibans felt they had the need to shoot Malala?
Because education is a powerful thing. And it’s even sadder to note, in some
parts of the world, privileged children fight to NOT go to school while some
others, like Malala, are vulnerable to violence and detrimental living just for
a chance to practice their rights to learn.
Knowledge gives meaning and power
to life. A person’s life would be stagnant and empty if he or she does not read
or gain new knowledge or skills to learn in life. Education shouldn’t be
bounded to the limited perimeters of things that we learn in school or a formal
setting, but it should be expanded to the intelligences or lessons we learn
through our experiences in life. If people think that education is expensive
and troublesome, just try ignorance.
In a conclusion, life does not revolve around glamour or
high-flying lifestyles that are blown to epic proportions. Rather, it’s about
celebrating the little things in life that are simple, enlightening and should
be well-worth celebrated. We need to stop defining happiness and success as
‘who gets the biggest payroll or makes the most money’ and start to redefine
what’s really worth our time and energy. Yes, surely money gives leverage and
acts as a tool to gain what we want in life, but that is just what it should
be; a tool or a means, and not part of whom we really are.
After all, money can
only last so long, it’s our moral integrity and character that’ll bring us a
long way.
