What do you take back from travels?
One of the things I treasure in travels is discovering or learning something good or useful or beautiful from the people in those countries. Sometimes you chance upon them in an unlikely place or situation or person.
Something I still recall to this day from our family trip to Bandung, more than 15 years ago is a pretty phrase.
We were supposed to make a move, but we were not done shopping. The driver then said to us : "Masa mencemburui kita". I was kind of awed. It was such a pretty phrase. It sounds poetic to me. I wish we speak like that normally.
Spoken language, especially, is no longer pure in cosmopolitan cities, like Singapore. Sentences or phrases are a mixture of popular or used languages. Sometimes the locals are even surprised to learn that the word they have been using is not their original language.
Also, we are always in hurry to convey our opinions and thoughts.
Perhaps that's why we turn to poetry and books?
Let me try, to remember, to slow down in casual situations, and speak pretty phrases. Aamiin.
* Masa mencemburui kita is Malay/Indonesian - which translates to "time is envious of us", which means 'we don't have much time'.
Got this from a screenplay for the movie 'Adapation'. Before that, a bit about this screenplay - God inspired this man to write the screenplay in quite an amazing way. It's not linear. Charlie Kaufman, the screenwriter, was asked to write a screenplay based on a book 'The Orchid Thief', which is basically a documentary book about the orchid flower. Through the screenplay and movie, we somewhat learn a bit about the screenwriter himself, as he has written his own character into the screenplay. Crazy and amazing - masyaaAllaah.
Anyway, back to the main topic - this part (which may have come from the original book 'The Orchid Thief') is quite simple yet deep for me :
LAROCHE
Everyone of these flowers has a specific relationship with the insect that pollinates it. There is a certain orchid looking like a certain insect, so the insect is drawn to this flower - its double, its soul mate... And neither the flower nor the insect will ever understand the significance of their [relationship].. How could they know that because of their little dance, the world lives? But it does. By simply doing what they are designed to do, something large and magnificent happens. In this sense, they show us how to live.
God tells us to learn from Nature, there are great signs for people of understanding.
God tells us, we were created to worship God, and do good. We have our roles to play, based on how God has created us. Playing the roles we have been designed with, to the best of our ability will be for the good of the people around us, for the society and the world at large, and most decisively for our own good in this world and the Hereafter.
If only we understand and accept it. Isn't this what submission to God is about? What being Muslim means.
