Each city offers a different way of life to its residents. Specifically, speaking of leisure activities, some are famous for museums while others come with endless ski slopes with countless opportunities for skiing, tobogganing and similar methods for breaking your ankle. What the residents of such do during summer, I have no idea. They probably while away the summer days putting polish on their skis and waiting for snow.
The city that I live in has, let's see..., markets, food places, cinemas and similar places which are full of noisy people making, er, noise. Don't like noise. Me no go there.
What else is there for me to utilize to unwind from the tedium of work and recharge the chargeables?
I tried a number of different sports but am just too lazy to be any good at any. Until I found golf, that is. One doesn't need to be good at it nor does one need to co-ordinate with a dozens other guys to set up a game. At the most, a couple of other dudes who similarly shy away from noisy places are good enough. On the other hand, golf can be enjoyed alone as well. Some of the time I do prefer to go alone, primarily so that no one is there to criticize my lousy shots or my foul language.
A couple of hours of strolling through a manicured lawn, with no phones ringing nor any cars honking, is good enough to allow me to face another week of, well, noisy people. Detoxing from high, or even low, stress is a necessity which not everyone gets to do.
Imagine, if you will, myself on the golf course, walking along and looking around casually. Yes, I look around a lot to see where the dratted ball went. Want to make something of it?
There, that sets up the stage.
Yesterday, I was out with a couple of golf-buddies. Between the three of us, we lost 8 balls and had a combined score of 350. Ok, 370.
Along one of the fairways was one of the groundskeepers, trimming the hedges. As is my wont, when I walked by him I greeted him with my customary: "Salam, Chacha (Uncle) How are you?". With a great big smile on his face, he replied: "Allah is merciful. I am doing just fine."
What a great splash of reality and of forcing one to face a completely different perspective. Here is this old man who has toiled for forty or fifty years, working out in the open with his sun-hardened skin in his threadbare clothes. He is lucky on the days when he has enough to feed himself and his family. The concepts of weekend, stress, leisure, career and retirement planning are totally alien to his way of life. Yet, he is content with his life. He is content with a neatly trimmed bush. He is content with what he has today.
I am sure that he has problems enough and heartbreaks enough. Perhaps he envied me. Perhaps he is deep in debt and trying to work it off. Maybe he has children who make him laugh and cry. But despite it all, despite his not being a king with a flock of courtiers nor a media mogul with extended bank accounts in a dozen countries, despite everything, he is content.
How many of us honestly say: "I am good, Allah is merciful to me"?
Something to think about.
The city that I live in has, let's see..., markets, food places, cinemas and similar places which are full of noisy people making, er, noise. Don't like noise. Me no go there.
What else is there for me to utilize to unwind from the tedium of work and recharge the chargeables?
I tried a number of different sports but am just too lazy to be any good at any. Until I found golf, that is. One doesn't need to be good at it nor does one need to co-ordinate with a dozens other guys to set up a game. At the most, a couple of other dudes who similarly shy away from noisy places are good enough. On the other hand, golf can be enjoyed alone as well. Some of the time I do prefer to go alone, primarily so that no one is there to criticize my lousy shots or my foul language.
A couple of hours of strolling through a manicured lawn, with no phones ringing nor any cars honking, is good enough to allow me to face another week of, well, noisy people. Detoxing from high, or even low, stress is a necessity which not everyone gets to do.
Imagine, if you will, myself on the golf course, walking along and looking around casually. Yes, I look around a lot to see where the dratted ball went. Want to make something of it?
There, that sets up the stage.
Yesterday, I was out with a couple of golf-buddies. Between the three of us, we lost 8 balls and had a combined score of 350. Ok, 370.
Along one of the fairways was one of the groundskeepers, trimming the hedges. As is my wont, when I walked by him I greeted him with my customary: "Salam, Chacha (Uncle) How are you?". With a great big smile on his face, he replied: "Allah is merciful. I am doing just fine."
What a great splash of reality and of forcing one to face a completely different perspective. Here is this old man who has toiled for forty or fifty years, working out in the open with his sun-hardened skin in his threadbare clothes. He is lucky on the days when he has enough to feed himself and his family. The concepts of weekend, stress, leisure, career and retirement planning are totally alien to his way of life. Yet, he is content with his life. He is content with a neatly trimmed bush. He is content with what he has today.
I am sure that he has problems enough and heartbreaks enough. Perhaps he envied me. Perhaps he is deep in debt and trying to work it off. Maybe he has children who make him laugh and cry. But despite it all, despite his not being a king with a flock of courtiers nor a media mogul with extended bank accounts in a dozen countries, despite everything, he is content.
How many of us honestly say: "I am good, Allah is merciful to me"?
Something to think about.
