Emdad

Keywords : simplicity, peace, wisdom, happiness, detachment

Some things and concepts we take for granted are esoteric to some people—and vice versa.

The other day, my conversation with Emdadul, our 24-year old muslim waiter from Bangladesh went: “Wuhhen arr yu back to Singafore?”, he asked. “2 months from now and possibly Christmas”, I replied. “Wuhat is Krismas?” I was surprised Emdadul has not even heard of ‘Christmas’. I tried explaining: ”Most of the world celebrate Christmas during end of December but in the Philippines , we start celebrating beginning September-October…” He started interviewing me. : "Yu like China?" "Yes". "China is a gud country". "You think so?" "Yes." "Why?" "Many many nice place and the girls are beautiful". "Oh Yes, i agree with you 100% especially on the last part"...“Wuhen u will get marrid? Not yang anymorr yor age”. “I don’t know”, I replied. “You have any girl to introduce to me? I’m very very desperate now you know”. He didn’t laugh but remained smiling and said one of the most profound words I’ve ever heard:

“Ourr life is not for ourselfh but for ahders”. “Huh? What did you say again?”

“Ourr life is not for ourselfh but for ahders”, he repeated.

Most of us understand the above only because it is said in english, not because we have grasped its true meaning in our hearts and certainly not because we are living our lives according to it. Those words seem to be another proof that wisdom is revealed to the ‘simple and lowly’. Many of us who belong to the educated echelons of society often have to struggle to act or think in the carefree and simple manner Emdad knows. Our hearts are often so cluttered we have forgotten how to for example, live a life of trust--, trust that by the end of the day everything will be well and alright. We worry and fuss over so many unimportant matters, oftentimes ridiculous things. We have forgotten how to be simple and as a result, we have forgotten how to be truly happy. Instead we choose to be enslaved by the baggages we carry- our pride and vanities, our possessions & our pleasures. So that anyone or anything that disturbs these things in us instantly annoys and takes away our peace.

There are a thousand things that disturb our peace.

We often like to compare ourselves with others. If one seems better off than us, we sometimes despair and our peace is disturbed. We like to seek pleasure. If we are unable to enjoy these, we get frustrated…and so on…

The world is fair. It may be a little hard for Emdad to understand the meaning of ‘Christmas’ but he certainly knows what his life is for. We may understand a lot of things- even about quantum mechanics or metaphysics and such but we often fail to be happy and understand life’s meaning- something so natural for Emdad. He may one day grow old and die not even having understood the meaning of ‘Internet’. Big deal. Most of us will grow old and die not even having the slightest hint as to the reason for our existence. If this is not a deal bigger than all the contracts in the world, i dont know what is. We live like zombies constantly running after something to feed our vanities and our pride. We seem to have distorted priorities of what is important and what is not.

One of them is that many of us will tend to waste time by putting criticisms and negative labels on things, institutions and ideas we are unable to fathom fully and appreciate – like Emdad’s simple words.