Tag: thoughts

daily prompt

Time doesn’t go back

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Is there an age or year of your life you would re-live?

No, it does but only, in our imagination.

Just close your eyes and go back in time. There are your big family gatherings, school trips, and your last year at high school with all its hardwork and true friendship. And here’s your wedding day, your first baby in your arms, your second playing around, and your third holding your hand. And could one ever forget that first day in a foreign land, the first friend abroad, and the new life. Can you ask time to stop at one of these moments, days, or years? I might have made that wish years ago, but not anymore.

There are pleasant moments, days, and years in one’s life, and there are also horrible ones. That’s life. It goes up and down. It’s hard to pick one day, or age or year without living the whole experience of it. That’s how we grow and how we change. Haven’t all these years and days and moments made us who we are today? Haven’t they given us all these wonderful memories to relish and re-live in in our imagination?

Does this make any sense? I hope it does.

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

daily prompt

Thanks so much

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You have three magic genie wishes, what are you asking for?

But I neither need your magic nor wishes.

I will lock the small door of the rusty lantern and hand it to one of the new robots. I’ll give my orders to take that lantern with its occupant on one of the spaceships and deliver it straight to hell.

We’ve had enough of the genies in the world turning it upside down.  Your wishes will be granted. The servant kept its word. Honest is that genie. Truly honest. That’s what old stories tell. Oh, poor children, poor us, to believe and imagine life will be rosy if only we have that lantern once!

But haven’t we ever thought why that genie was imprisoned in the lantern in the first place? No, we just need our wishes to come true.

Aren’t we capable of making our wishes come true? Yes, but why not take the shortcut.

What if one wishes for revenge, for destruction, for their own powerful survival? Of course, that’s also included in the genie’s package. Haven’t we let the genie out? That was his job, his one main job. Why else was he caught and sentenced to eternal prison in the lantern?

What about others who are wishing for peace, love, friendship, and happy life? Oh, sure the genei wouldn’t mind help with that somehow, but don’t blame him when others’ wishes blast those noble dreams into ashes.

Thank you very much, but I’ve grown out of the genie’s lies.

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

daily prompt

Sorry Moon

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How much would you pay to go to the moon?

Oh, the moon, such a miraculous creation!

It looks so beautiful, so romantic. Who wouldn’t like it? Who couldn’t be inspired by its luminous silver light on a dark night? Isn’t our calendar affected by the change of its amazing round shape throughout the month?

But of course, that’s how we see the moon from our Earth. In fact it’s so distant, so dark, so lifeless. Thanks to the sun, it has its beautiful light. Thanks to the spaceships, astronauts give it some life. They travel all the way to bounce on its surface as if they haven’t been bouncing enough on Earth for thousands of years.

But Adam lived on this Earth, and his offspring scattered all around it with different colours and tongues. That’s God’s plan.  God didn’t create us to live on the moon, but to watch it from far, far away. To understand how we are so weak and fragile that we can neither live without nor live on one of the simplest natural satellites, the moon.

Sorry, Moon, I won’t pay to go to you, but I’ll always be so, so happy to see you from far far away.

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

daily prompt

Wouldn’t you?

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What are you most proud of in your life?

Isn’t it incredible to have the ability to survive when you undergo many unexpected challenges in life?

Isn’t it great to keep going and to let go when others, relative or not, disappointed you?

Isn’t it brave to be the odd one out not because you want to be but because the majority want you to be?

But isn’t it wonderful to have faith, to repent, and to pray in a world that wants so much to eliminate and challenge the very idea of the Almighty God?

Wouldn’t you be proud if you lived through any of those moments and came out safe and sound?

Wouldn’t you be extra proud if you experienced them all and always made a new beginning?

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

Just writing

Noah’s Ark

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Someone was commenting on the current events around the world saying ” Is it really logical that people nowadays are from the offspring of the righteous people who had embarked on Noah’s Ark. But then, what kind of morals did those who had drowned in the flood have?’

That’s funny but it also makes a good point.

But, perhaps, we should think more about Noah than his people or his offspring. How did he cope with mockery, hatred, and betrayal? How didn’t he give up building his Ark? Never. How strong was his faith? And how he made a new start and lived a better, longer life?

Noah was patient, faithful, and resilient. He had never lost hope, never abandoned his faith. In the end, he was saved while most of his people drowned.

Could we just embark on Noah’s Ark and do our best to live a good,  healthy life on this earth?

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

Just writing

Charlie and the chocolate factory

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Describe your dream chocolate bar.

Is there any flavour, any type that one can wish for a chocolate bar and can’t find these days? Things have turned out just like Charlie’s and the chocolate  factory.

Like everything, all commodities are available. All dreams are coming true these days. All the impossible is possible even in the chocolate industry.

But, isn’t that funny? We have varieties of chocolate types and flavours and still some dream of more. More to spoil children, more to show off, more to gain weight, more to lose weight, more to store, more to discard, etc. Have you ever thought that even the detained hippo in the zoo with his big full open mouth would never dream of being that spoiled, would never dream of a chocolate bar with a different flavour?

By the way, today I wished I have got a chocolate bar, a simple original one, to give to a cute school girl I’ve been seeing everyday as I walk with my daughter to her school in the morning. It was just today that she had the courage to exchange a few words with me before she hurried to go to her school. Her genuine smile and few words were enough to make my day without any fancy chocolate bar dreams.

Wishing you all the best,

Nahla

daily prompt

The electronic mold

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Do you remember life before the internet?

A few years ago, I was visiting with my father-in-law as we were on our summer holiday back home to Egypt. He was in his late-sixties, and though he was suffering from some serious health problems, he was mentally and physically okay. One of his granddaughters had just left when we arrived.

As we were having some tea together, my father-in-law couldn’t hold his temper any longer. He huffed and puffed, and I put my tea cup back on the table, holding my breath. I didn’t know whether he was in pain or whether he was devastated by anything. I remained silent, praying my any one would join us in the living room. No one did. And, the poor man exploded.

‘She was on that junk machine for the whole day. Her fingers tapping and tapping all the time. Her eyes fixed on that trash. She didn’t hear, didn’t see but that … phone.’

I swallowed and thanked God mine was in my bag.

‘That’s what she always does every visit. It’s stuck in her hand. In the kitchen, at the dinning table, and even in the bathroom.’

When I burst out laughing, he smiled and his anger evaporated a bit.

‘Stupid generation.’ He added before changing to another topic.

I think this summarises how life has changed after the internet, or can we be more accurate and say after having it on our cell phones. A few years before this happening, my in-laws’ house was full of life and noise. People, young and old, were talking, playing, laughing, arguing, etc. But, after the interent has become widely used and accessible, life is mainly about being live, online. That why my father-in-law couldn’t quite fit into the new generation’s electronic mold.

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

Just writing

There is a time

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There is a time to accept change, to make new beginnings. If you haven’t planned for things to change, and if the change has taken you by surprise, then I believe you have to accept it.

It’s all like being on a train journey. You have your ticket, and you know your destination, but you are also aware you might need to change trains or there might be some delays. In every circumstance, you have to cooperate, to accept things becuase it will be futile and illogical to stay stuck in the stationary or broken down train.

I have moved quite a lot since my husband and I had decided to make our big move to the UK. Honestly, in every move to a different city, I felt as though change sought me out rather than the other way round. In other words, I have never played the role of a nagging wife, either crying to make changes or fighting to resist any. I accept it. But then, with each move, I found some hidden gifts for me. I met with new people, I learn new things, and I change. 

A godsend is not always desguised as a human. Unexpected changes in our lives can also be divine blessings.

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

Just writing

Why else?

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Imagine you have a long list of contacts, relatives, and acquaintances and you rarely hear from them either through normal calls or messages. You thank God when some have the sense and reply back to any of your messages. Then, all of a sudden and out of the blue, they call and talk nonstop.

‘Oh, did you know what happened?’ ‘God, how funny those old days were!’ ‘You haven’t heard about that, have you?’ ‘My parents always remember you in their prayers.’ Etc. That’s their common narrative introduction.

And, almost, when you think perhaps you have been unfair. Or perhaps you are the one who needs to call quite often, just then, your dear caller relieve the reason behind the memorable call. In good scenarios, they will ask for a favour or a piece of information, or to know bits and pieces about your news that had already reached their ears by others. But, in worse scenarios, they will erupt like a volcano and throw their flames of accusations and hidden grudges.

That’s when I think of ‘why else’? Why else did they call? Sometimes I switch off this nugde of ‘why else,’ and enjoy the show. But, when things become too much, I choose my peace of mind and it becomes thanks but no more.

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

daily prompt

Why recall them?

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What sacrifices have you made in life?

Why do some, if not most, people recall their sacrifices when they feel hurt or betrayed by others. And sometimes, they become jealous and angry at some. Don’t expectations, in this context, make one’s  sacrifices more like a bribe, or rather a debt? I’ve sacrificed such and such for you, but inside, I was waiting for the moment when you repay me in some way or another. To do what I’ve been expecting. Or to support me later on in life.

Gratitude is a noble quality, and of course we all like to receive some  appreciation for any help and kindness we give through life. But that doesn’t mean to throttle others by the sacrifices we’ve made for them.  For example, some parents often brag about the money and time they have sacrificed for their children. They would expect their children to enroll in a particular university, or apply for a specific  job, and, in some cases, to pay back each pound and even each hour their parents have invested in them.

Don’t you agree that any genuine sacrifice is related to a lawful cause? In other words, it cannot be a sacrifice when one gives up their beliefs and principles for the sake of temporary pleasures, but the opposite can be. Besides, doesn’t a sacrifice  imply pure and sincere inention. How else could we enjoy the deed and feel its blessings?

A sacrifice is a true sacrifice when is motivated by love, commitment, and contentment.

No coercion. No payback. And don’t count them?

With all the best wishes,

Nahla