To err is human. To err again is insane. Many scholars and philosophers and great men have unanimously agreed on the virtues of learning from mistakes and the vices of making the same mistake twice.
As I sit up. unusually late, I am tormented by my 'same' mistake. Perhaps I have made this mistake many times, but only once earlier I did this with irrecoverable loss like today. With the finality of the death of a loved one and not being able to express myself to them.
Why do we not do things now. When we think of them. When we conceive them. When we are excited by them. When we are turned on by them. Procrastination seems too small a word for the illness of delaying the Now. Delaying a phone call, a hug, a thank you, an apology - delaying expression which might haunt us forever.
With its shams and miracles, life's unpredictability is certain. Why then, how then, can we afford to risk a delay in now. Life and its moments are too precious to lull, stall, sleep and sit on ideas, plans and relationships. Why are we waiting to get better, older, wiser, prettier to do stuff. Why do we wait forever to speak of our feelings? Of love or of dislike. Speaking for or speaking against. Why does the adult wait for burhapa to be nice to parents? Why do we sit on ideas and proposals at work, and wait for the perfect timing? Why don’t we move on, let go and capture more from every living moment. Why do we allow our lives breaks, runs and reruns. Lets get cut-throat on these moments. Whether they later become mistakes, failures, broken promises, torn hearts or sunken money - why don’t we live and place the value on the now of it.
As our guiding light, our faith, Islam urges us through the azaan to do things in time. Now. Pehlay waqt par namaz parho. Farz ko pehlay karo. Now, the question is, what is farz for us. Is it farz that life be spent to 100%. Is it farz that you serve to your fullest? The body and soul are an amanat, a loan lent out to you for a certain purpose. Is it not farz to execute the purpose to the maximum capacity? In the best of time. "tumhay qasam hai waqt ki - asar ki". And is there any better time than now?
Away from the faith, clichéd quotations and modern animations say the same. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery and today is a present. Within the three shots, four breaths and five minutes of right now, any thought you may have, unless you catch it in action, becomes the past. And to catch it and capture it into nows you cherish well into time, where you fully utilize Gods amanat, you have no choice but to grow now. Read now, write now, speak now, think now and practice NOW.
The only way to make a present is to be in the now. If you realize, if you calculate, so much of now is whizzing past you into your past. Its like a fruit ninja game where each fruit falls down and under in the nick of time. Will you take your sword out and slash the fruit and cement it into a now. Or will you loose the game of moments, the game of life, and grow insane with the mistake mankind has been making repeatedly.
