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The times

Hope Lives On

No matter how long this will take but it is still just an
evening. It will pass but you may never again find time to
do what you always wanted to do.

By Sumera Khalil | August 2020

Difficult times are unforeseen, they say. Do they tell you that it will pass? When it does, make sure to look back at this time as moments that you really lived. Ensure, when you remember year 2020 in times that it was a time when you learnt to dream, to seek light at the end of the tunnel. Hope and despair are two sides of the same coin. The world today is suffering and all hopes are shattered, all solutions blurred and all human faculties lost. To talk of hope and light amid COVID-19 is just as futile as all efforts to tackle the situation.

However, where all else fails, imagination wins. Being in isolation brought to the human world a great piece of literature known as King Lear. We may not be able to produce any such masterpiece now but we can dream. This human tragedy in the form of a pandemic has ensnared humans to a tiny teeny micro-organism but for the first time in this era, humans are actually living. They are coming out of their mechanical cages and are striving with their breathing relations. Who envisaged at the end of 2019 that the world will come to a halt?

The fast-running world was jolted and was forced to stop short in its crease by something that could not be by the human eye. But all is not lost, hope is not lost. Samuel Beckett, as a towering absurdist, artistically represented the despair and absurdity of the human situation in Waiting for Godot. He presented the sickness of our own times and created a black, formless world. However, darkness in the Beckettian world does not eliminate hope. In darkness, we can see a distant point of light and a dim hope. It is this, though dim, yet distant ray of hope that formulates human existence. Godot might be the happiness, eternal life, the unattainable quest of all humanity. So here we are, still living in Beckettian times, calling upon our Godot to come and save us.

This dim hope, a sleek ray of light is keeping humanity hanging in there. There is light in kites flying from rooftops and hope is in the shouts of joy and togetherness. It is singing in the songs of birds, filling the air with music. Animals are visiting us to check if we are well. Did you even see those rainbow snakes coming back after 50 years of hiding? Lost Dolphins have been seen to be dancing in Italian waters. In time of self-detoxification, parents are spending time with their children; they are adapting to gadgets and sharing screens with them. The tales from lost lands are back. Folklores, hankering in their hearts, are being retold by grandparents.

This is the twist in the story which we never thought of. This is a song which is being written not by humans but by Nature. These are times that we were waiting for; may be, we have been inviting Godot to visit. Art is no longer seen as a waste of time but as a HEALER. This lurking hope is guiding us to a new world where nothing is taken for granted, neither a touch, nor a kiss.

Let us admit that this is the time to just sit back and let Nature do her magic. It is time to read that book sitting in your shelf for so many many years. It is time to listen to that lost melody or to complete that poem which you started but could never finish because you had no time. It is now time to finish that novel, the plot of which has itched your mind for so long. It is now time to tell your beloved how much they mean to you. It is now time to try your hands on a dish that you always wanted to experiment with. It is now time to enjoy the slumber where you have no hurry, no alarm. It is now time, to love, to care and to breathe.

Faiz would say that no matter how long, it is still just an evening. It will pass but you may never again find time to do what you always wished to do. Turn your isolation to create the magic that you always dreamed about. Let’s stay home, let’s stay safe and let’s just breathe – something that we had forgotten in our rushed lives.

Here’s to undying hope and here’s to a healing humanity. Let’s live and not just exist.

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3 thoughts on “Hope Lives On”

  • Saleha Maryam
    August 4, 2020 at 4:04 pm
    Permalink

    I like this article. It’s full of hope and inspiration. We should always find a positive point from negative surroundings.

    Reply
  • Sikandar Subhani
    August 4, 2020 at 4:31 pm
    Permalink

    Well written, ma’am.

    Reply