Farid

Of the many sort of different backgrounds and peoples i have met. i remember Farid during times of sadness and frustrations. he's this cheerful, 50+ year old egyptian chap. always smiling and seemingly carefree. one day, he introduced me to the game of sudoku. if there was a way to gauge his proficiency in the game, i'd say he probably has a chess equivalent ELO rating of around 1800. anyway, one fine lunch we drove to a nearby beach. he explained why he has such love for the game. "it keeps the braincells moving and exercising", he said. "at the same time, it has been discovered that people playing sudoku are prevented from developing alzheimer's disease", Farid added.

"But!" he continued..."it doesnt mean i am playing not to develop alzheimer's". "in fact i prefer to have alzheimer's than being normal". this puzzled me, i asked farid what he meant. "In order to be happy". i quickly realized what he meant. He carried on: "people who dont remember anything, will not have any reason to be sad". "they are always happy"...."we humans tend to keep the negative events in our lives deep inside and keep the hurts in our hearts for a long time...the happy events, we only celebrate for a short while, enjoy them for a little bit and then we forget them completely...i pondered over this refreshing truth.

such simple thoughts but profoundly true.

The memory is oftentimes the reason and the source of all sadness and frustrations. What if for a moment, we imagine that we have alzheimer's? would we still remember the reasons for our unforgiveness and blame? isnt this very often the very reason preventing us from being free and happy?

I wonder whether God and the residents up there has alzheimer's too? the answer i think is yes--in the sense that heaven exists in eternity without the limitations of time. simply there are no pasts to remember, nor future to be anxious about. it's just an eternal 'now'. An eternal Happiness.

there are a few things i just remembered and wish to say here on the saints' deep insights about'taming/ blanking our memory' as one of the ways to achieve purity of heart, and eventually happiness...etc. but unfortunately, i've forgotten the details to most of them...

but i remember the last time i saw Farid in Jeddah. we parted with me sliding a glass of precious home-made brew wrapped inside a plastic into his bag. "be careful and make sure you finish it all up before you drive to the airport", i whispered to him.

he nodded understanding the seriousness and danger of the situation with a smiling reassurance...carefree and happy as always.