This morning I watched a really beautiful video about a grandpa having Alzheimer who went missing, only to be found by 2 police officers, picking up flowers by the roadside. Turned out he was picking up flowers for his wife, whom he occasionally forgets. He has forgotten how they met, who proposed and most of everything that they had shared before. But as the beaming wife, Doris, said, the heart remembers what the brain forgets.
The video ended with the commentator narrating a line, which struck me as pure genius!
Imagine what's possible when love becomes an instinct.
Really, imagine that. Imagine what's possible when love becomes an instinct. An instinct! That's something that you'll do naturally, no judgement, no agendas whatever ish you call them nowadays.
Imagine how many lives can be saved, how many kids get to have proper food, proper homes, for the chance to finally receive education. To have many parts of the world have a good leader who will fight and defend for the rights of their countrymen. To demolish wars and weapons. Oh my, imagine that.
It's something like what parents would have for their children, or a good husband for his wife. An instinct. They want only the best. The best development preparation, the best education, the best shelter, the best protection they can give, the best environment to live in.
Now what's missing in this lovely picture is the extension of such love, towards other human beings who do not have anything even remotely connected to us.
"What does it mean to love people we don't know, to see the value in every single person's life?"
John Legend's speech during the University of Pennsylvania's commencement ceremonies
These days, I would wake up to news of child abuse, child killings, child trafficking, child rape. And the worst thing is, in all of these reportings, there ARE witnesses around, most, too afraid to intervene. Now imagine if love becomes an instinct, you'd not even think twice, you'd not even THINK. You'd just go out and do it. Because it comes naturally to you.
What are we doing to stop all these nonsense? Are we on the path to put a stop to all these? Are we instilling the right values in our children? Or, like most, we choose not to care as long as it doesn't happen to us?
Well, shame on you.
Sometimes it tickles me that some people will go all out to defend their religion. You know, haram this, haram that, halal this and that. But they forget to defend the people whose rights are being abused. Like the orphans, like the elderly, the unfortunate families living on the streets. It is OUR responsibilities, our amanah. Just because we don't know them, that doesn't mean we can wash our hands off of our responsibilities.
The truth doesn't need to be defended, it will stand on its own.
But not these people.
There's a saying on the cover of a book written by an Indonesian writer. It says,
"Rumahlah surga sebelum surga"
Literally it means, home is heaven before heaven itself. Basically, what the writer is trying to say is, everything starts at home. What happens today is a result of the environment at home. Place children in good environment, like stem cells.
Ponder please, yes.
