The End of the Beginning

Two weeks ago, I had a bittersweet moment. My term on the Masumeen Youth Committee, or MYC for short, (finally) came to an end after two years. I say it was a bittersweet moment because it was a happy yet a sad moment for me.

A little background on who/what the MYC is. Its the committee at the Islamic centre I attend regularly; its general purpose is to cater to the youth of the community. There is more detail, but this is a very quick summary of it all.

It was a sad moment for me for many reasons. First and foremost, I was in a position (Public Relations) that I enjoyed and had roles/responsibilities that I loved. It gave me a new learning experience and also allowed me to use the skills I'd picked up from college & university in an important role.
Secondly, it allowed me to give back to the community. I know; this sounds very cliché. But I felt there was a big need to contribute back to a community which has given me a lot: a starting point for religious education; multiple opportunities for reciting/presenting during programs; and a place where I could socialize with people from the community. Its always important to give back; life is like that with a lot of relationships where its give and take, and it shouldn't be any different with our religious communities. Unfortunately, the importance of  religious community & its significance is neglected & not appreciated as much as it should be because the focus is on the useless gains of this world.
The third (and most important) reason ties into the second one, and covers a few different bases. It was the reason I brought myself back into the community. For about seven years,  I had made myself step away from the community starting in 2004 (during my three years in college; two years in university; and first two years at work). This was due to a few reasons, which I won't get into (for now at least). This was a mistake on my part, and I regret it. At the get go, I didn't feel the effects too much. However, sometimes we tend to realize things a bit late. I realized how much of my youth I wasted during those seven years in regards to being involved in the community and learning about religion. It took two life changing events for that to happen - both back-to-back. There was a sense of loneliness I felt as I had very few friends I had and I would rarely go out. I felt that there was a huge gap in my relationship with the Almighty (SWT). I thought about marriage; who would marry me if I'm not even known of? And lastly, I thought of death; if I were to die and nobody knew me, would people come to my Salaatul Janaaza and would there be enough people to even carry my casket out of the mosque? So these factors all led me to come back to the community. To give back, I wanted to help the youths of the community out. Having been through certain issues and realizing the stance of why youths didn't want to be involved, I felt it was best to join a youth committee. After some talks, applications, and time, I joined the MYC. And with joining the MYC, it gave me more of a reason to stay involved. I built new networks; I developed new relationships; and I made new friends. I worked with an incredible team that was great to work with and be a part of; as a team, we also accomplished many things with the help from the Most Merciful (SWT). And most importantly, I feel like I have made the connection that I needed with Him (SWT); one of my goals in life will be to try and continuously get closer to Him (SWT). It was a late realization; but as the old saying goes, better late than never.

So these reasons explain the 'bitter' moment. The next part will explain the 'sweet' moment.

It was also a happy moment for a few reasons as well. Firstly (from a selfish standpoint), its less stress! This role and responsibility also came with stress at times. All important roles & responsibilities have this thorn. One thing I want to mention: there wasn't a TON of stress. I'd say maybe about 10% of the at the very, very most was pretty stressful. Beyond that, it was a lot of fun and a great learning experience. However, I think over the past couple of months a lot of the stress from this and many other things caught up to me due to me getting sick quite often (touched on that in my last blog post). I can spend some time now recovering completely. There's also other areas I can now give more focus to (personal life; career; education; etc.)
Secondly, a new team is now in place and its great to see some fresh faces on one of the hardest working youth teams. There's a lot of apathy from the youth; I used to be one of those youth, but realized the mistake I made (as I mentioned earlier). The mistake reminds me of this hadith:
"There are two things whose worth is only known to one who has lost them: youth and health."
 - Imam Ali (AS) (Ghurar al-Hikam; no. 5764)
With these fresh faces, hopefully we'll see more youths make their way back to the community on a regular basis and not just for certain types of events or certain times of the year. Along with that, these fresh faces can continue building the MYC and taking it to new heights. It'll be great to see and support them from an 'outsider' view.
The third (and final) reason is that it will now allow me to move on to other initiatives while still being involved in the community. For one, I'll now be moving on to a couple of roles on Jaffari News that I'm looking really forward to. I'm hoping to start reading some books I got a few months ago to increase whatever limited knowledge I have currently. I'm also hoping to getting back into poetry some more, and maybe make an attempt at some spoken word poetry. People who've know me since my high school days know I used to write lyrics; then I stopped and went onto poetry. That also stopped a while ago for quite a while. Only recently did I start getting back into it; and I hope to make a bigger splash with that!

So that sums up the end of the beginning. An end came to my term on the youth committee; but it was the beginning of my involvement in the community and giving back, God-willing. I still have a few good years of my youth left, God-willing. Its important to utilize this age in the right manner. As the following hadith says:
"Verily the heart of a  youngster is like an empty plot of land - it accepts whatever is planted therein."
 - Imam Ali (AS) (Tuhaf al-'Uqual; no. 70)
For all the youths; you still have a gift and an opportunity. Take it from somebody who wishes they could go back and change those wasted seven years. Use this gift and opportunity while you still have it to give back to the community, help it grow, and essentially prepare for the arrival of the Awaited (AJTF); but most importantly, use this gift and opportunity to get closer to the Almighty (SWT).
For myself, I can't change the past but I can learn from it. So less dwelling on what's out of my control and more focus on what potentially is in my control. I'm looking really forward to all the opportunities that are potentially out there. And God-willing, I'll be able to succeed on these future endeavours, prepare myself for the Awaited (AJTF), and (most importantly) continuously get closer to the Almighty (SWT).