flags and Fate

Dear Reader, 

On the occasion of the Queen's Jubilee, as I stood staring at the streets strewn with red-white-blue bunting and Union Jacks, it occurred to me that flags are a brilliant source of analogies. For example, I've always had difficulty in explaining how both free will and fate can coexist in the same universe. This is where flags come in. Or more specifically, a flag pole.

Say you have a flag that represents you, dear reader. You can choose it's colour, material, design, shape, how far up on the flag pole you can pull it, which direction it faces. You're free to choose all those details to your liking. But fate, let's say fate is like the wind, an uncontrollable force of nature. It buffets you in one direction or another. And yet it's the flag's material, shape, design etc. that are important, i.e. how you willingly choose to face your fate is what individualises us and is what we're judged on. 

And I suppose, in the end, there is only one fate that awaits us all: death. Because death is the only true certainty in life. I find that in this busy modern world, many people seem to forget this, or choose to ignore it. But this doesn't have to be a morbid thought, just a practical one. We need to realize that our time on this world is limited, and thus we should spend it wisely. Time is an often-overlooked  limited resource and we should be using it to make provisions for the Afterlife inshallah, which is in itself eternal and ever lasting. And if you, dear reader, do not believe in an afterlife, then we can also make provisions for future generations to come. It doesn't have to be something grand, like inventing a feasible nuclear fusion reactor. But simpler, smaller, everyday things, like recycling paper or teaching children to respect each other and the environment, these little things that will help to make a safer and cleaner future...

Okay, I did not intend for this post to turn so serious and lecture-like. It's just I've often found my thoughts lately drifting towards the highly maternal topic of babies/children and their future. My biological-clock is not only ticking but ring with alarm bells! *Blush* And with that embarrassing confession, I believe I will end this post. 

Nida