Share your thoughts with our readers: Email your contribution, no less than 300 words, to [email protected] Every day, we meet people but very rarely do we find someone who can change our life or become part of it. They may be friends, loved ones or complete strangers who will come and go after staying with us for a while. Let me tell you one thing. People are travelers. They come, take shelter in our shade then leave for their life's journey. If Allah wills it, these travelers will come back to us at the same place where we met them. But we shouldn't cry when they leave us. Instead we should feel fortunate that they had chosen us among the many people out there to stay with us and take their rest. While they remain, either we may turn out to be providing them shade or they may be providing it to us. Either way, we shade each other, need each other. No one can stay alone in this world. We all need someone or somebody to share our life with. Now listen to this story. Imagine a traveler, tired, cold and hungry who found a spot to rest under a tree. There were other huge, beautiful and shady green trees around but the traveler chose to rest under that tree. He sat and enjoyed happy moments there as he watched the sky, thanked Allah for the spot and then fell asleep under the shade for quite a time because it was comfortable to be there. He thought of staying there for a few more days to gain strength and give the tree a little company. But he remembered that he was just a traveler and had to leave. He had enjoyed some luxury and comfort in the shade; there was fruit to pick whenever he got hungry, fresh air to breath and a fire which he made each night to keep him warm. There was everything he needed, but still he felt that he was all alone, far away from home. This reminded him that he had to leave, travel again and do something for the family that was waiting for him back home. When he left, the tree was sad, there was nobody to talk to, no one to enjoy the little shade it provided, no one to pluck its fruit and no one to provide it with company. The tree felt all alone. But the tree was happy to learn a lesson from the traveler – that although there were other trees all around, the traveler stayed under its shade and thanked Allah for giving him shelter. The tree, feeling gratified, thanked Allah that the traveler chose to sleep in its shade and that he did not leave because he did not like the tree but because he had some other things to do in life and could not remain. The tree was happy to remember how the traveler picked its fruit for food during the day and used its dried leaves and twigs to make a fire to keep him warm at night. The tree was also glad to learn that the ashes from the fire had made the soil around it more fertile and the seeds of the fruit the traveler ate had grown into little plants. It praised the traveler because if he had not taken shelter in its shade and slept there for some nights, the area around the tree would have remained the same. The traveler was grateful to the tree for giving him shelter because it was in its shade that he realized what he wanted in life. The message that I like to drive at is that people come and go in our lives. When they leave it doesn't mean that our life has to stop. The people who go away will leave us something to appreciate and cherish while they take with them fond memories to remember us by. We must never begrudge or say something bad about those who leave us – friend or kin alike – because Allah has His own purpose in sending them to us. We have to let go. We are all travelers in this world. This is not our home, our final destination. Life is short and the world is small. We will all meet once again - somehow, somewhere.
