麻豆约拍

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Sometimes I look back at days gone by and get that bittersweet taste of nostalgia, sighing for the fond and fuzzy memories to return. But it鈥檚 not quite the same sensation when I think about the nineties. Yes, the 90s - that decade of neon windbreakers, chewed up VHS tapes, and the teeth-gritting sound of the macarena. But the 90s wasn鈥檛 all bad - the mullet did eventually plummet to a very welcome death.

And talking of questionable 90s hairdos, my classroom was full of bad perms, pineapples, and a perpetual mist of cheap hairspray. Every day was a bad hair day in that bizarre decade.听 But for all the anti-nostalgia of the 90s, it was still a much brighter and more carefree time than the one we鈥檙e in now.

While I peer back 20 years, I also wonder how I鈥檇 look back on today in 20 years from now. I doubt that I鈥檇 view these days with much nostalgia.听听 But it鈥檚 at times like these that I remind myself of the South American story of the hummingbird who tried to put out a raging forest fire. While the tiny hummingbird flew back and forth from a lake filling her little beak up with water, the other creatures watched, frightened, amazed, defeated. They bemoaned, 鈥淒on鈥檛 bother, you鈥檒l get burnt, you鈥檙e too little, you鈥檒l never put the fire out.鈥� The hummingbird replied, 鈥淚鈥檓 doing what I can.鈥�

This fighting spirit, this need to do what we can, is the essence of the Islamic attitude to life. Giving of ourselves, giving the smallest amount in charity to the smallest children in need - has greater bearing than we can possibly imagine. When the Quran tells me each atom鈥檚 weight of good is significant, it鈥檚 not just my antidote to despondency, it makes me feel empowered.

I think of the little hummingbird when I read the words of the Sufi Muslim poet and scholar Rumi, who pointed out: 鈥淕od has created your wings not to be dormant, as long as you are alive, you must try more and more, to use your wings to show you鈥檙e alive.鈥�

Life can be an upwind struggle, some days are better than others, some times are better than others, but I鈥檓 determined to make a difference with every beat of my wings, while I still have the strength to fly.