There is no tomorrow...

For a long time, there were tears in my eyes. It was not because of anything relating to me. It was because of someone else’s tragedy. A few months ago, the son of my father’s friend got killed. He was riding a bike when his bike hit a car. A small fight happened, and the car guys took out a gun and shot him on the spot. He died in the hospital after a few days. He was a young chap, a couple of years younger than me, and was the only son of his parents. He has got one sister who lives in the UK. I was just browsing Facebook when his profile came across in front of me. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=605161843 I went through his profile. There were messages from people on his wall, regarding how much they missed him and remembering old memories with him. It brought tears to my eyes and pain to my heart. It was the fourth time in my life that I realised that the world in which we live is cruel and insane! Finally, this incident put the last nail in the coffin of my trust in humanity. 

Some years ago, there was another incident that shook me completely. There was a picture of a woman with her children in the newspaper. They were holding a placard in front of the press club. There was a line written below the picture. She was a middle-class lady legislative consular from some backward area of Lahore, and some people were threatening to kill her in some domestic dispute. She was asking the world for protection. Some days later, there was a small news item about her killing in the pages of the newspaper. There was no other news about her killing afterwards. I still remember that picture. She was begging people for help, but no one cared to come forward and give her protection. This was the first time in my life that I felt that humanity was scarce these days. 

The second time was even worse. There was news of a 7-year-old girl who went missing. She was the daughter of a peon of Punjab University. Both of her parents were deaf and mute. The police refused to take action, telling her father that their daughter would return home herself after some time. The people, on behalf of her parents, protested against the police. A few days later, the girl was found dead in an under-construction building. She was brutally raped and later killed by piercing iron bars into her neck.

Another incident which I remember is of a factory owner. He was burnt alive by angry so-called Muslims because one of his workers falsely accused him of showing disrespect to the Holy Quran. The police did nothing. 

All of these were small stories in newspapers, but they had a strong impact on my mind. I failed to understand how anger and hatred can make one so mad as to commit such animal brutality. The biggest pain in life is unjustly losing the ones you love and then failing to understand why this injustice happened. The biggest ache for parents is to see the dead body of their child who was killed for no reason. How little human life is worth these days? People kill one another without realising what effect one’s death will have on another person’s family and friends. No one bothers others now. Every person is just into himself. People live as if there would be no tomorrow. They have forgotten that they will leave a worse world for their children. Their children will eat the bitter fruit of what they have sown. Nature always does its math. It never leaves anything minus or plus for a person. At the end of the day, it leaves everyone with a zero. 

I have a very strong feeling about the present times. I believe we are living in the dark ages where there is no respect for one's life and dignity. The only respectable people are the ones with money and power. There are corrupt rulers but no leaders. People have no courage to rise against barbarism. Therefore, nature is angry and is punishing us with earth quakes and floods. The ones who survive will face more bitter punishment if they didn’t resent and resist the doings of current times; for them, the only road ahead is the road of utmost deterioration. 

May Allah forgives us all, shows us the right way and gives us the courage to make this society and world a better place to live in.