Fragile Hearts
Flashes everywhere… bright lights… gleaming sparks…
Emitted from ads’ screens on the road, bypassing cars, hotels, restaurants, cinemas, ….
but on the other hand, very dim lives…
and very pale inner worlds…
Thoughts are whirling in my brain before being spilled on paper with no special order or organized manner.
Flowing Facebook notifications shine on my mobile screen…
(), (), and 78 others posted on your timeline “ Happy birthday”
700 have reacted “sad” to your post. “ They can think, feel pain, love. Isn’t it time animals had rights?”
9000 have commented on a post you are tagged in “ How to help Ukraine?”
1000,000 have reacted to the post “See what is happening now: the Premier League kicking off its 'Rainbow Laces' campaign to support LGBT people”…
0,000,000,000 have reacted to “Hundreds killed in Gaza hospital massacre”,
“More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli air strikes on Gaza”,
“Sixty percent of the more than 5000 individuals wounded in Gaza are children and the elderly”,
“More than 263,934 people in Gaza are estimated to have evacuated their homes”
Opening Instagram, I can see lots of delight…
Two actors have finally married after 12 years of dating…
This influencer traveled to Paris last week…
That influencer attended the last “K-POP” party…
Shots of a group of friends taken on the release date of “Barbie” movie…
McDonald’s welcomes ‘CosMc’s’ to its universe with drinks like the churro frappe, pear-flavored slush, and turmeric latte, competing with Starbucks…
I can also see that new update: “We may remove videos or images of intense, graphic violence to make sure that Instagram stays appropriate for everyone”
Is life actually bright and glowing with livingness as everything around may denote? Or are all of these just corneal flash burns, blinding reality? Or are all of these rapidly moving scenes dead even if buzzing with life? Alive dead? So dead that you can see yourself decaying from worry, sorrow, loss, adversity, absurdity, fear, futility ….
Is there any thread that can converge our inner real worlds with the outer one? And what can determine our directions, perspectives, and visions?
Feeling paralyzed…
Bleeding with incapability…
Stumbling…
Looking into the world…
All is dim. All is dark and colorless…
Only shades of gray…
To see the truth, it isn’t significant to be standing in light as much as it is important that the truth must be what is light shed on.
After flipping history pages of more than 75 years, I wonder if any words can depict that flood of dead stories, destroyed homelands, and smashed dreams. It seems as if language is aborting words as it can’t bear to deliver their meanings or their accompanying feelings.
It is so draining that we, all, are living our lives so normally as if we are blind. We are actually blind… blind-hearted… Distracted by Hollywood idols, our own lives are all our scope, but Humans of Palestine? We may cry. We may share some posts. We may pray. But for the first few days, then the peak of emotions falls; normalizing… or maybe forgetting… It is normal. Time flies and all passes. A lot of tragic movies will still be released by Netflix so we should save our tears battery. We are occupied by our schools, and universities that taught us how to code AI algorithms and failed to teach us how to be humans or even be the warmest machines!
What about Instagram reels, Facebook posts, TikTok videos, and the new cars of 2024 worth waiting for?
Eventually, in this cycle of forgetting, we have forgotten as well the remedy:
“Similar situations [as yours] have passed on before you, so proceed throughout the earth and observe how was the end of those who denied (137) This [Qur’an] is a clear statement to [all] the people and a guidance and instruction for those conscious of Allah (138) So do not weaken and do not grieve, and you will be superior if you are [true] believers (139) If a wound should touch you – there has already touched the [opposing] people a wound similar to it. And these days [of varying conditions] We alternate among the people so that Allah may make evident those who believe and [may] take to Himself from among you martyrs – and Allah does not like the wrongdoers – (140)” SURAH AL-IMRAN (137-140)
Our hearts are so fragile. Perhaps because they are in the hand of Allah. He turns them to any direction He likes. For this reason, verses can reassure us, letting some space to assimilate what is happening, and permitting reinfusion of our sucked blood. It tells us what we should do. Simply, as the prophet said: "If the Final Hour comes while you have a shoot of a plant in your hands and it is possible to plant it before the Hour comes, you should plant it." So plant your seeds, do your duties as Allah's successor on Earth, pray for your brothers, donate to them, and boycott...
This design is about how much we are exhausted by modern world milestones, how much we are drained by modern life prison, how much we are shackled to modern idols, and how our soul is sucked by their standards and orders! And it is about how these souls can be revived again, and how hope can leak into our hearts, erasing this world’s stains and restoring its fluttering when hear Allah’s verses.
After all, it is a reminder that your feelings should be translated into persistent work and deep-hearted belief that victory is not except from Allah.
