Masks of Life

Masks of Life

by Maryam Tan-wm on Thursday, 25 November 2010 at 23:20

Life is a never ending story of hope, joy, pain, and struggles. But how much we understand life? How much we wanted to spend to make our life satisfactory on our sight? Do we have a purpose? Do we have a trail to follow?

People from all walks of life never thought how short this life could be. The only thing on the mind of a common man is the happiness and satisfaction they can get from this world. But how much it’s cost?

I was attending a masquerade party for our shift and they invited me to be a speaker during that occasion. I was astounded by the costumes my friends and colleagues were wearing because of the mask that covers most of the faces of the attendees. My speech focuses on loving the career that we choose. While I was delivering my speech a thought came into my mind while looking at the faces in front of me. How people could able to hide a fake smile while inside they are not getting the best that they deserve? Or why people, having a blessed opportunity others are envious upon but still not happy with what they have earned? “Why losing hope when we have a lot of things to hope for?”

Life is not deceiving. It is us who deceived ourselves. Why can’t we say no when we don’t like? Why we said its allright when it’s not? Why can’t we say a thing when we need to say something? And why we smile when in fact it is hurting? We cannot live a life with deceptions. God give us a choice or choices of good and evil, of knowledge and ignorance, of happiness and sorrow. But how can we know that we choose the right thing? We have given a path to follow. A path that can only be enlightened if we seek God’s wisdom over worldly matters. We cannot mask the pain and sufferings we are feeling by drowning ourselves with wine. We cannot overcome poverty by pretending to be rich and doing nothing. And we cannot enjoy life following our own desires because this is only a temporary enjoyment.

Our life has a purpose. We were not created just for decorations only. For us Muslims, the purpose of life is to serve and obey the commandments of God. In Qur-an 51: 56, the word of the Almighty says: “I have only created jinn and men, that they may served Me.”. The Bible is also very clear as to what our purpose in life should be. Men in both the Old and New Testaments sought for and discovered the true purpose of life. King Solomon (son of Prophet David or Dawood PUH), the wisest man who ever lived as they say, discovered the futility of life when it is lived only for this world. He gave these concluding remarks in the book of Ecclesiastes: “Here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). Life therefore is all about honoring God with our thoughts and lives and thus keeping His commandments for one day we will stand before Him in judgment and believe me, on that day if we are not being obedient to our Creator we will not be able to unmask the true happiness that we are dreaming of forever. Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatulahi wa Barakatuhu!

Model: "Mark David Clarion Caraan"