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He Poured Water into the Glass

He Poured Water into the Glass

As I sit at the dining table, with half closed eyes, I see my friend lifting the water jug. He pours water into a glass, and puts it in front of me.

“Here.”, he said, and continued eating his meal.

My half closed eyes opened up.

To me, this little action spoke a thousand words; words that my mind did not hear. To the mind, it was merely a boy giving me a glass of water.

This is a sight that one has witnessed plenty. So the mind stays as unmoved, as it was before.

But the soul, that was in awe. It was as if it heard the message loud and clear.

It heard the message that said, “You are not alone”.

The veins on his wrist became prominent, as his hands lifted the jug, and poured the water.

To lift that weight was not obligated on him, and my soul heard,

“You lifted the burden that was for me to lift.”

Have I not seen enough of that in my life?

Aren’t my burdens only supposed to be lifted by me?

The love that comes into your life, or the love that walks away, the joy and the hurt, the honor and humiliation, you are responsible for it.

Think about it, the morsel of food that will go into your stomach when you swallow, you are responsible for it.

In the future when you hear the laugh of your child who’s comes back from their school, happily exclaiming “This happened today!” and proceeding to telling you their tales. You are responsible for it all.

You worked for the ease and the comfort of that child.

You strive to lift your burdens.

You are responsible; You and You alone.

This is what our parents have always been trying to tell us. This is what life has always taught us. This is what we witness around us on a daily basis.

This path of fear, worry and doubt, that is only for us to walk.

It is us, who end up feeling weak, tired and overwhelmingly unloved.

A soul, which is deprived of love knows the value of such actions; actions which are as small as ‘your friend pouring water into the glass for you’.

There is beauty in compassion.

Witnessing compassion of any kind fills up ones heart with light.

This world of ours, It’s filled with darkness, It’s echoing with nothing but “I… Me… Myself”.

In this world, any kind of selflessness, no matter how subtle or how small, can shine like the sun.

The soul celebrates such sights, and it provides you with feelings of warmth that spread into your heart.

To the eyes, they might be small. But to the soul, they are immense.

The time for these self-less occurrences might only be for a few seconds, but the effect of their light survives in one’s heart, for all of eternity.

To the mind, that does not go beyond shapes and forms, the outward, and the right and wrong. The soul goes beyond. It sees the beauty and the light. It sees all that is secret, and all that is hidden.

Yet this effect, that we have trouble perceiving, isn’t always positive.

Some days back, a friend of mine mentioned an unpleasant fact about a person whom I do not like much.

Yet, after he mentioned that scenario, it resulted in tears welling up in my eyes. Why? I never found an answer to that.

But, what I do know is that sometimes tears are beyond reason. These feelings are incomprehensible. Some things make us weep even though we do not understand why. Something’s make us feel joyous and we don’t know why.

This is because of our soul; it has seen something, something which the eyes could not see. It has heard something which the ears could not hear.

It’s all caused by such moments, moments like my friend coming into my hostel-room whilst I was asleep, and telling my roommate, “Jawad ko salam kehna.” Moments when your friends comes into your room and say, “Aao, Khana Khaney Chalein.”

Or, a moment in which you see your friend lifting a jug and pouring water into your glass.

These are no little actions. There are no little actions.

These actions are what proclaim the following:

“In this caravan of life, you will not be left alone”.

And nothing is greater than these words.

My friend taught me this.

And I believe, whether someone is considered family, friend or even a stranger; he needs to hear this message of compassion.

It is for us to give their saddened souls the gift of healing through compassion, and by these actions we say,

“Open your half closed eyes, you are not alone”.

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About The Author

Muhammad Jawad Rana

I am Jawad, born and raised in the city of Okara. I am currently studying Environmental Engineering, other than studying myself. Among the things I love, is writing, night, fragrances, prayer, coffee, philosophy and friends.