Tuesday, August 31, 2010

My brother my hero

My brother was 2 when he had an accident which caused him to undergo major brain surgery. As a result of which part of his brains frontal lobe had to be removed. This left him in a coma for a month and the doctors told us his chances of survival were minimal at best. If he did survive he ll probably be on a bed unable to do anything for the rest of his life.
He proved them wrong, with my mom exercising him and taking him and doing whatever she could in her capacity, he was able to not only move again but also regain all his functions and now functions as normally as can be expected of some one who underwent major brain surgery 5 time in total to date. He has seizures and is retarded, doctors tell us that mentally he is like a 7 year old. Although he is a goofy, lovable funny 23 year old.
I find it amazing that after going through all that he has been through in his life, he is a very upbeat and gregarious individual. He loves music and laughter and has a lot more empathy than I could imagine. When he found out he was an uncle he sent his favorite toy for his neice.
When we were young, I d get into scraps with other folks who d make fun of him and at times I was embarrassed of my brother. It took me a while to realize that he has a way of making himself heard and loved. In time, the folks who made fun of him became his best buds.
There have been times when I have wanted to protect him, protect him from people and at times from himself too. I guess I have come to accept the fact that what is cannot be changed. He just wants to be accepted for who he is and loved like every one else does. So here is to you my dear wonderful brother, here is to your generous heart. Your big laugh and your goofy jokes. Thank you for being you; for helping me be more empathetic and be able to look deeper than the surface.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Where is Humanity?

The events which took place in a village near Sialkot moved me to tears of frustration and anger. Nowadays the newspapers are full of violence all over the world. Murder, mayhem, hunger, rape and hate.
Today while praying I just felt soo hopeless and helpless and I asked Allah where are you? why are you not helping the helpless and I screamed at him to tell me where he was and than I heard a voice in my heart which said to me. It was not his duty to help and protect us, it was our own duty to protect the defenseless. It was our duty to do help the helpless and the feeble and the weak.
Yes, we all question what can we do in such reckless times, when Humanity seems to have died. I guess the answer is that yes we cannot change the world but we can change our selves give a little bit of our time and energy to do good. Every small thing helps. Mothers can raise their kids to be better more thoughtful individuals. WE can volunteer our time with organizations if not money. Just pull along and do a little bit, because every little bit helps

Where is our Humanity?
A ricochet Bullet at the corner
Pierced through is ribs,
went through the mothers heart.
Blood splewed everywhere
They came in droves
to break their bones,
Broken limbs,
fractured skulls
Brains frying on the side walk
She was left looking at their pictures flashing on the screen,
What was she to do to protect her babies...
Killing, Murder, blood...
Is this the solution ?
Where is our humanity?
In such reckless times
Death seems like a bliss.