Assalamoalaikum (peace be upon you)! It’s been a while since I posted, last. Here is an essay that I wrote for the Commonwealth Essay Competition and Alhamdulillah, my essay made it to the list of silver awards. My name can be seen in the list of Senior Silver Awards, whose link is given at the bottom of this page: https://www.thercs.org/youth/competition/results-2014/
We were given various topics and I chose to write on the topic, “United We Stand”.
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Hidden behind the horrendous hollows of this horrible world, there is a hope. And that hope is what keeps this hideous world alive. That hope is a healing hope- a hope that heightens each day, despite the heightening scandals of the world. That hope is hope that this world, despite its horrible, hackneyed, ideas of happiness, is still, and will continue to be a unified mass of souls.
That hope, by hopeful hearts, has been named, “unity”.
In our world:
it is said that some are black.
It is said that some are white.
It is said that some are brown.
But, all these words are words of spite.
Yet, despite, the hypnotizing songs,
That these words begin to hum,
At the end of the day, all colours,
Belong to one spectrum.
And that spectrum is what we call unity. This spectrum is a home to every colour, every hue, every tint and every shade, because this spectrum is true. It can never be combatted by the worldly, manufactured and processed ideas of discrimination that have pervaded our world. It ,never, will be defeated, because this spectrum is the hope, which in its silence, shouts out to the world, to hold on to it, and the world resonates in reply (though the sound remains secretively unheard), “United we stand.
It has been said, so many, worthless, times that the poor are poor-and the very word is enough to separate them from humanistic living. Yet, the hope brings souls together to demolish this weakly founded barrier of discrimination, because the hope is embedded, deep, in every human soul. It is embedded in the soul of the poor and the rich, and the innate attraction, which characterises all awakened souls, knits the threads of all souls, together, into one garment of completeness. The garment will be torn, void, if the poor are unsewn from it. This garment is what we call unity. But this garment will never be torn, because it is the hope, which in its silence shouts out to the world, to hold on to it, and the world resonates in reply (though the sound remains secretively unheard), “United we stand.”
The belief has cruelly crept into life that patriotism is a measure of harangues against nations and the people of nations, which your nation is against. Yet, all nations are constituents of the same map-of the same globe. And this globe is what we call unity. This globe can never be pressed away, because it is the hope that maps all souls onto itself. And this hope, in its silence, shouts out to the world, to hold on to it, and the world resonates in reply (though the sound remains secretively unheard), “United we stand.”
The thought that, who people refer to, as “disabled”, are piteous creatures, worth no life of their own, has blared through the gazes of so many. However, these “creatures”, too, are souls-the most beautiful souls. It is the purity of their souls that makes them beautiful. Only souls that see, and not look, can realize the beauty of their souls. And this power to see is what we call unity. This power can never be destroyed, because it is the hope, which, in its silence, shouts out to the world, to hold on to it, and the world resonates in reply (though the sound remains secretively unheard), “United we stand.”
The idea has insidiously accumulated in rusting hearts and infected minds that man is an oppressive master, and woman, a suppressed victim. Yet, in reality, a woman is an emblem of ambition. A woman is the prettiest flower and the strongest sword. This truth calls on to women and says:
“O Woman! You are you.
Isn’t that enough for pride?
O Woman! You’re such a beautiful hue.
Stay you, and beyond the seas, you shall glide.”
And this call of truth is what we call unity. It brings all souls, to the same level of dignity, respect and rights. This call will never die, because it is eternally woven into each soul that awakens. This call is the hope, which in its silence, shouts out to the world, to hold on to it, and the world resonates in reply (though the sound remains secretively unheard), “United we stand.”
Three words are enough to satiate this hope. One call of the world: “United we stand,” gives immeasurable satisfaction to the hope we call unity. There are numerous forces that fight against the prospering of unity, but it is this one cry that comes from the world as a whole, which keeps unity, perpetually, at ease. For unity is a spectrum, a garment, a globe, the power to see, and the call of truth. Unity is what keeps this world alive, and unity is the hymn that croons all evils to sleep, forever. “United we stand”, is enough to drive away the adversities of this horrendous world, and to make it glisten with the lustre of life. It is enough to acknowledge and appreciate diversity, bringing all diversities under one banner of hope. These three words are enough to transform this horrendous world, to a happy world- a world filled full of hope.
Buds and Swords and Words 