Fairuz Maliha Surma

We are so lost in this digital world that we have almost forgotten our existence. We do not even remember when was the last time we laughed out of pure happiness instead of wearing a façade, making someone else sure that we are happy. People run every day to make in their pursuit of a so-called ‘secure’ life, and yet those are the same people who leave deep late-night sighs, complaining about not having a vacation. Instead of giving the child scrabble games or some adventurous Tintin books, they hand over them the latest gadgets with the most expensive fruit’s logo on them, and then go on to complain why the child is being rude and uncommunicative. Do we ever stop for a couple of minutes and think where we went wrong? That we should not always Skype with our family members, rather visit them in person? Because the sweet smell of our mother’s tired bodies after a long day of household work cannot emanate through Skype? The chocolate that ludicrously sticks in our children’s teeth and gums can only be laughed at only in person, not with a photo tagged and duly uploaded on a social platform. We are so busy rating the reviews of the restaurants that we forget to appreciate the person who is cooking healthy food for us every day at home, did we ever ‘rate’ them with a five-star, give them a hug? Can we take a moment to actually care for people by not mindlessly pressing on the care reaction but by genuinely being there, praying for them, looking after them whenever they need us?

Can we? Can we ever??