By Dalia Rashwan
If we ask anybody in his/her seventies about his/her happiest days, he/she would be silent for a while trying to remember his/her life stages to choose the most beautiful events of each stage to talk about. But by such a process he/she loses the latest and most beautiful stages of his/her life lamenting the previous stage; and so on.
This is the topic which we are going to talk about: The Age of Retirement.
Almost all people are very curious about this stage. It is the stage of stillness after such stages full of life and movement. It is the stage of laziness after a life full of vividness and activity. It is a stage that predicts death! It is the stage of aimlessness in a world full of aims! It is the stage of hopelessness and despair in a world full of hopes!
If I want to express or increase the disappointment, I can simply, as many people at the Age of Retirement do, think of negative ideas and enter into a vicious circle of more disappointments which lead to the shock of the new change; the pre-meditated negative ideas of the new change!
However, there is another aspect of the new changing events that only few people think of. I have not seen anybody who had such a vision except in the western societies; although our beliefs and culture enable us to be more successful at such a stage of life.
Why do not we consider this stage as a new start for getting rid of our daily duties and family burdens, to take care of ourselves!? Why do not we change our habits in eating, clothing, going out for sport and entertainment, and doing what we had not enough time to do!?
Getting older is, generally, something disappointing. But in our beliefs it is not disappointing at all! Because getting older means that we have become closer to Heaven where every man and woman is rendered back to the age of 33! The most beautiful age; with no sickness or fatigue; the age of vitality and endless joys in a Heaven full of bliss which “no eye has ever seen, nor an ear has ever heard, or nobody has ever thought of!”
Of course one may, naturally, ask “How can anybody give me a guarantee for Heaven!?”
The answer will be that “when you feel the bliss of your life in this world, you will certainly taste the bliss of Heaven in the hereafter.”
The real bliss of this world is to experience a true faith in Allah, and to be always as near as possible to Him.
But how can you achieve this!?
This is what you have to spend your time with after you have become a retired person. Be sure that you have a very unique opportunity: you have the time to do whatever you want. It is very nice to have time to go through old books and think of God’s creations, making use of your rich experience. In this age of technical revolution you may have your own vision that you may convey to the whole world, and help the young generations in their right choices by avoiding your mistakes.
Why do not you, for example, convey your experience in the belief of Allah?
You can, for example, write a useful book and cultivate its eternal benefits even when you are laying in your grave or in the Hereafter!
You may have been busy and have exhausted your energy in your work, but you may still have such an insight creative capability that needs your weakness to come out now! It needs your quietness, silence, and tranquility which you could not yield to in your time of full vitality and energy! Search for this inner creative ability, because it is now the time to release it.
I discovered that many of those old men and women are possessed with one single idea; that their children are no longer taking care of them, in spite of the fact that their children do really take care of them! The problem is that they have already pre-shaped their beliefs and accustomed themselves to depend on others. They tend to be dependent although they actually do not need such dependency!
Therefore, my dear friends, I can say that at such an age you do not need anybody to help you. You are an independent person. You can plan for yourself to be independent. There are a lot of examples which prove that any human being is able, at any stage, and with any cripple, to rebuild what had been collapsed in his life. He can accommodate his life according to the new changes and environments. We have such examples in those who lost their sight in their childhood, or those who became crippled after a serious disaster.
Look deeply into yourself and say “Thank God”. Then you will discover that the new changes that occurred in your life are simpler than the changes which occurred to some people who used to be full of life and power, but they were doomed not to make use of it. They succeeded to find new ways to redirect their abilities in a very suitable way.
You, my reader, are not less than those people. You are even better than them in many aspects.
My dear friend, if you are still young, please forward this letter to any old man or woman you know. I hope that my “humble” words may give a change to somebody who has many experiences and creative rich ideas. I hope that they may, by God’s Help, benefit our nation, and give a new wake-up for our “dying” nation.
There are some advices for those young generations who still have some old people to help:
– Try to encourage them to enter the Internet and develop new activities.
– Encourage them to sign in some Internet Forums to occupy their loneliness. Because by meeting other people and exchanging views and experiences with old and young people, they may reach a very positive balance in their personality. So, the young generation will have the opportunity to hear from “the other’, because usually those who are still at their middle ages are still very busy. Therefore, the young generation will be brought up with the culture of the old ones!
– You can buy them some reading and educational materials.
– You can buy them some cassettes or CDs which contain lessons to hear and learn.
– You can also encourage them to practice some sport activities, because these activities are very important to ease their sadness and depression.
– You can surprise them with occasional and cordial gifts. Such human touches give the impression that you are still interested in them! Even your short visits mean a lot for them.
– I do not mean that they have to beg these sympathetic feelings. These feelings must not be considered as favours; they will be the means for you salvation from Hell. They will be the heaviest and the most appreciated deeds in the Hereafter. Be the most careful in your filial devotion, and in maintaining your kinship relations.
Translated from Arabic by:
The Black Arrow (Abu Naser)
