Lesson Learned from My visit to Colombia

 Last week I visited the Great country of Columbia and met the wonderful people living there. It was a nice experience visiting Bucaramanga and meeting with amazing team members. This was my first visit to the country since we opened the office almost two years ago. I used to meet our Colombian colleagues in our Houston office and have always felt the positive energy in them. I had heard about the problems facing Colombia, including the economic challenges and the issues with drugs. There are other challenges too, which is why my impression was that people would be living in a lot of stress there and Colombia would not be a safe place to live in.    

But after talking to them and visiting them I was astonished at how peaceful the country is, and how friendly the people were. Their problems are not very different from the ones faced by other developing countries, including the need to have good, strong leadership that makes their lives better.    

In my multiple conversations with my Colombian friends, the only thing that they were willing to say was how they were facing issues with corruption and nepotism at the highest levels of their Government. But they all were happy in their daily lives and were enjoying the company of friends and families. Daily conversations were a lot about current local and regional events and the future. I realized everyone is working and minds their own business and no one interferes in others' business and tells them how they should lead their lives. Everyone is very mindful and cares for others’ feelings. In this matter, Colombia seemed as progressive as the US, where people were not really bothered or troubled by the better social status of others.    

 

 

I was listening to a book by Imam Ghazali Hay ul din. In the book, he said, “ In a country or a society, culture cannot be corrupt unless their rulers and learned peoples are corrupted”.

When I  heard this, I started to think about my own experiences growing up in India. I think the situation is similar even now. Our  learned people like to talk about the shortcomings and imperfections of other sects in Pakistan and how they believe that their way of living (worship) is superior to others. Many learned men still believe that their understanding of the Holy Book of the Quran is current, and how others are interpreting it incorrectly.  To be clear, I am not supporting any specific interpretation – all I am saying is that these types of discussions are still ongoing in our country where people even provide “proof” how they are correct!   I . This is such a negative approach that does not bring any positive change in anybody. All it does is to make us dislike others and turn us into negative people who have little tolerance for others’ points of view. This hurts us as a society and as a country. We can only inspire others through our actions and results. Nobody- not even our own family- will take us seriously if we just keep talking in this manner.  This is a big reason why we don’t hesitate to tell others how to live their lives, what they should or should not be doing, and where their faults lie. This does not change anything. If anything, this leads to a subconscious intent to NOT improve. Very few of us can even answer the basic questions- Who am I? What is my purpose in my life, what are my strengths and weaknesses and what do I like or don’t like? What actions do I need to take to improve myself and the people around me? Most of them spend days and entire lives on urgent matters and not “important” matters. We don’t have a priority list. In the end, we become “What we think all day”, meaning unhappy, troubled, and dissatisfied with no contentment. Our relationships with loved ones suffer too, because we are not happy and are bitter.  a . We quickly jump to conclusions and start judging, condemning, and criticizing, when in reality we should be looking within ourselves and getting rid of these habits. We become experts on others’ lives, but ignorant of our own. This is a sure way to not let peace be within us.

 

 

 

I want to humbly invite everybody to start getting to know ourselves first and leave others alone. By improving our own ways of life, we can show others how to lead theirs. The choice is theirs- if they like what they see, they will imbibe these principles. This would create a much better world for our future generations.  This would make it worth living.  

Conclusion:

In the end, we are only responsible for ourselves and accountable for our actions and words as we recite and remind ourselves in every Salah. The best gift we can give to our loved ones is the best of us. Because when we are doing great then everything around feels great. 

Our Spiritual, Physical, Mental, and Emotional health affects everyone around us. So we must look after ourselves if we truly care about people around us and in this world!

Love each other for the sake of Allah Kareem and agree to disagree for a better cause as many companions of Prophet Muhammad did to avoid dividing the Uma.

And focusing/searching in the deeper inner self (soul) if we find any things such as Judging, condemning, or criticizing plug them out of the route and plant compassion, tolerance, and love.