the Wake-up Call

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ

*linked*

I was waiting beside the main road in front of USM for my friend to pick me up. We're heading for the bridal shop! *no, I'm not the one trying all those dresses*. Earphones plugged in, i was watching the road and the gazillions of cars in the afternoon heat when a familiar guy walked past me, heading towards the gate of the hospital. He looks like he's in his 40s, slightly Chinese-looking, kopiah on, a simple t-shirt and khaki pants with a pair of Crocs slippers on. 

If i hadn't known, he would have been just another regular person i see on the street. 

If i hadn't known, i wouldn't have made that prayer 

while he walked silently and unknowingly in front of me.

"May Allah ease his life as well as his family's"

Aamiin ya Rabb.

********

We had our ward-round during the first day of my attachment with the team in USM, meeting a kid who came in to the hospital with an underlying rare condition. That was the first time I saw the kopiah-clad guy, he's the Dad. The rarity of the boy's condition triggers my interest of course, which led me to talk to the mom, one fine morning. In retrospect, she sure is one awesome lady, talking about her son's condition in details, feeding this final medical student those rare medical knowledge of her son's disease. The boy came in with a breathing difficulty, only to collapse that very night in the hospital, falling into deep coma for the next 28 days, held in ICU the whole time with all the intubation tubes; and it's now day 41 since he woke up, alhamdulillah. But the condition has left him scarred, as he has acquired multiple brain infarction leading him to be half-paralysed now. And here is one mother, being able to talk ever so calmly and brightly; giving me an insight of their lives, behind that smile she put on her face.

Can we imagine ourselves in their shoes? Scratch that. We couldn't even imagine having to face anything even close to that; Having someone you love being so sick, fighting a fight we couldn't even understand, waiting ever so patiently at the bedside, for a very uncertain future? So many questions run through my mind. How is she coping? Who's looking after the other girls at home? How about the younger one, does she misses her mum? Her husband has to be working away every so often to keep the household running, it must've been tiring to go back and forth between work and hospital right? How much are all of these taking a toll on their lives? 

....Are they okay?

Wallahua'lam. Keeping in mind that Allah s.w.t never burdened His creations more than we can bear, prayers is all that I can send them; and this goes out to anyone who's facing any hardships in their lives. May Allah be with all of you, insyaAllah. Meeting these kinds of people definitely put some perspectives into you wouldn't it? Of how much we are whining everyday, of how much useless we are at times, of how simple our problems are, of the fact that we are just not that thankful enough for the lives we're living in.  Astaghfirullah. May Allah forgives;

Cause we just keep. on. forgetting.

For every person that we see, perhaps there's always that little extra story behind them. Maybe if only we knew the weight that everybody is carrying on their shoulders, perhaps then we wouldn't be living in a world;

where everyone is taking advantage of one another, 

where people are only looking for chances to scam others, 

where the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, 

bound to be laid forgotten. 

But we couldn't see that, and thus all we care about is ourselves, ultimately creating this selfish world we are currently living in. Sadly enough, more often than we wished for, we are a part of that latter group;

Talking about our problems, our lives, 

scurrying to post whatever awesome things in our lives; 

Completely forgetting about others. 

Astaghfirullah.

I don't really know how to end my rambles this time around, but today's incidence pretty much sums up my wake-up call. I was jotting down notes while reading the medical chart of a patient, when this one little girl in her pink tudung came peeking into my notes, her height barely passing the table. So i leaned in closer to entertain her;

                                   "Adik tengok kakak tengah buat apa ni?" (What do you reckon i am doing?)

                                   "Tak tau." (I dont know.) - she grinned sheepishly

                                   "Adik umur berapa tahun?" (How old are you?)

                                   "8 tahun." (8 years old.)

                                   "Adik sakit apa?" (Why are you in the hospital?) - I wasn't thinking straight. =,=''

                                   "Leukaemia" - she answered nonchalantly

                                   ". . . . . . . " 

And I realized she was only a few beds away from me, taking off her pink tudung later on to reveal her balding head....

Astaghfirullah. 

We all are in dire need of reminders.

فَلَمَّا نَسُوا مَا ذُكِّرُوا بِهِ فَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ أَبْوَابَ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ

 حَتَّىٰ إِذَا فَرِحُوا بِمَا أُوتُوا أَخَذْنَاهُم بَغْتَةً فَإِذَا هُم مُّبْلِسُونَ

Kemudian apabila mereka melupakan apa yang telah diperingatkan mereka dengannya, 

Kami bukakan kepada mereka pintu-pintu segala kemewahan dan kesenangan, 

sehingga apabila mereka bergembira dan bersukaria dengan segala nikmat yang diberikan kepada mereka,

Kami timpakan mereka secara mengejut (dengan bala bencana yang membinasakan), 

maka mereka pun berputus asa (dari mendapat sebarang pertolongan).

[6:44]