Compound

This scene is amazing. It’s about building a bridge. I have a thing for bridges. I think this scene is a metaphor though. The bridge thing is a bit on the nose. 

https://youtu.be/m8Mc-38C88g?si=loZqCP-eFi-KAEJk

The scene is about all the benefit this one little bridge has been to so many people. There’s some cool math that’s a part of the reasoning. 

As the scene ends, the character summarizes the benefit, 1,531 years. He says it again 1,531 years saved. The impact was huge. I think that’s the deeper meaning. 

Taher, the act can be small, but the impact compounds and can be huge. 

Fewer Questions

Lyrics have inspired so many of my thoughts and blogs. The authors take my mind to new places. It’s like reading is for so many, it takes me away. 

Usually, I find the lyrics to be wise. Usually, they are a reminder of this or that each time I listen to the song. The songs are more meaningful. Usually, the singers are alluding to something that inspires me or singing about something I want to emulate. 

Two songs are stuck in my head. They’re not usual though. In fact, they just seem to have gotten it wrong. The songs are good, but listening to them from now on will be a reminder of what not to do. 

“ You, you're walking away

I've been there now, I know what to say
I'm the king of yesterday

A silly little love song for myself
It's all I ever do, you know, I shine the shell
A pretty little picture, the face of you“

And

“ And there were so many fewer questions

When stars were still just the holes to heaven“

These songs are about the past and how good it was and they didn’t realize it then. They’re stuck in the past. They’re so wrong. Whether it’s meant to be the lesson or not, the takeaway is it is so good NOW and you don’t realize it. 

Taher, don’t very wish for things to be simpler and have “fewer questions “.

Months and Years

It seems the clock influences our thinking.  It counts in minutes and hours.  The clock conditions us to think small I think because of this. 

Moula tells us that timeliness is important. He has talked about the importance of the awal waqt. We should leave a margin and prioritize what’s important. 

Moula doesn’t, however, tell us to think small. In fact, my tasawur is that he’s implicitly telling us not to. Our minds can best and perhaps only comprehend the short-term.

Professionally, I’ve learned not to plan further out. Things change. Opportunities change. Personnel changes. There’s change that I can’t see coming. It’s futile to plan too far. The future is written after all. It’s going to happen whatever my plans are. 

When Moula shares his wisdom to do this or that or not do this or that it’s never about the short-term. It may be something that we can only understand in the short-term and it may benefit us in the short-term. It’s long-term though. The short-term is often transformative and the way to get there. 

Taher, think long-term. Think in months and years. 

Himat

Today, I got to spend some time with Zahra’s dadima. It’s a treat. I see her a couple times a year. For the past couple years she hasn’t known who I am. 

This visit she did. She is old and is easily in her 90s. She quite clearly remembered me this time. She even remembered me multiple times. She’s old, but she’s experienced a whole lot. 

Just like she remembered my name multiple times, she shared some of the wisdom she earned multiple times. In our larger group, “himat hase tho karow” she said. 

Later I sat with her just the two of us.  She called me by name to sit  and she said, “paysa hase tho farak nay pare”. She gestured and added, “ Himat hoi tho karow”. 

She’s old, but so wise.  Wise words. 

Taher, money won’t matter. Do it now!

Patience

I'm like everyone else. Patient sometimes and with some people and less so sometimes and with others.  I try to be more patient all the time.  Like everyone else I imagine.

Today I had the good fortune to help my parents with some tech stuff.  They are older now.  It was probably confusing for them.  It was easy for me, but I went slow and answered questions multiple times.  I hope I was patient.  I'm old enough to have been the person on the other side getting tech help from a much younger person too.

The thing is that I'm sure they were patient with me when I was a kid.   Just like me they had little, and then slightly less little kids.  Yusuf and Nooriya require me to be patient.  Just like I'm sure I needed from my parents.

The future is written.   In a sense, it's already happened and I just don't comprehend.

On the drive home, I realized something.  The patience that I'll get someday is directly related to the patience that I give.  However much patience or not it is, it will come back to me.

Taher, be patient.  You reap what you sow.

Giving

Being kind changes the world. Everyday has this potential. It doesn’t have to be a big thing either. It’s easy to say stuff like, “if I had a billion dollars, I would do all the good things”. 

That’s the thing when it’s big it’s almost easier. Our brains can draw a line from the good thing through to the result. We can see the impact potentially. Nothing wrong with that. Doing big acts of kindness is amazing. 

Giving grows though. Doing some small kindness is almost invisible. It takes faith to know that it’ll grow and move through the world. Trust that it will. 

It’s easier to understand how someone will pay it forward. If person a does something kind for person b, b will do something for c and so on. What’s harder to understand and perhaps more satisfying is when many people independently do a small thing and collectively change someone’s day, week, month, or even life. 

It happens. It’s invisible. Our brains can’t comprehend. 

Taher, do the small kindness every time. It will grow. It is an opportunity. 

Bridges

Another post inspired by song lyrics.  The lyrics are better than I can write.

 

"And what about those shoes you're in today?

They'll do no good on the bridges you burnt along the way”

 

The lyrics are pretty good and this same or similar words show up lots of places.  I think because they’re pretty wise.  I think it’s pretty plain too.

Be nice now, be authentic now, do whatever is good and do it now.  It applies to so much in life.  It’s saying don’t wait.  Don’t think short-term.  It doesn’t matter if you can’t see the long-term benefit.  Have faith that it’ll be there.

Taher, you never know.