Now Ramadan is coming to its end. Despite the fact, that we had to fast on the longest day of the year — June 21 — and normaly fasting hours remained nearly 20 hours, the entire month passed without any problem. However, the heat wave did create a temporary problem but overall we had a smooth Ramadan. May Allah accept our deeds!
My children are having a nice time in their respective schools, as these weeks are filled with extracurricular activities. My son,7, had a week full of outdoor trips and one of those trips included the visit to the Robin Hood Museum in London.
They left at 7:30 am in the morning promising to return at 6pm. Around 3:30 pm, my son called to inform me that there was an accident on the road and the motorway was partially closed. He told me that they might get late. I was really worried, I had heard about the accident on the radio, which involved a truck carrying explosives and that they needed to close the motorway for the safety of other motorists. I knew that he would be safe but I could not stop myself from imagining the worst. In such cases, you just can’t prevent unnecessary thoughts invading your mind. What if they run out of petrol while they are waiting? What if they run out of water especially that the trip coincided with the hottest day of the year? What if the coach they are traveling in has no toilet facilities? What if they had to close the motorway for the night? I was getting crazy from imagining all the worst-case scenarios, and then I just stopped myself. I am imagining the worst and forgetting all the other facts, I told myself. It is true that my son is stuck somewhere, but it’s merely traffic, he is safe. I just imagined mothers in war zones and I felt ashamed. Mothers in war zones say goodbye to their children in the mornings wondering if they would ever see them again.
I also imagined the emotional condition of those people whose loved ones became the victims of recent terror attacks in the Kingdom and Kuwait.
Safety is a key factor in human lives. The absence of safety greatly affects the quality of life and makes life a challenge. While the absence of safety is something inevitable for people in war zones, unfortunately some people choose to live in anxiety all the time despite living in safe places. I know several people who are always worried that something bad is going to happen to them or to their loved ones. They shield their children to protect them and they miss lots of opportunities just to stay in their comfort zone, they never feel safe and they always feel that people are conspiring against them and think that shielding themselves and their loved ones is the only way to ensure their safety. Life is about choices, and if we cannot control life events, we can at least control how to react, and being at peace with ourselves.
