Doing Right, A Test of Courage – Part 1

 

“Granny, I have been reading our 48th Imam, Mowlana Sultan Mohamed Shah (alayhi salam)’s holy farmans and very often, I have come across the word himmat. According to the Imam, it is vital for a true mom’in to have himmat. So one must have courage if one wants to be counted as a true mom’in. I have thought about this a lot but have not quite been able to exactly work out the inferences contained within this one simple sentence in the Imam’s holy farmans. Please help me out by sharing with me your thoughts about this.”

“Consider these words carefully. They have been preached, in one form or the other, by very many wise men and gurus:

Do what is right,
without thinking of the consequences –
what will happen if you do what is right.

Not keeping quiet, speaking up or taking action if you come across something wrong happening requires great courage. This is the singularly most difficult challenge for the ordinary human being. It is very, very easy to just ignore it or keep quiet about it due to various [mostly selfish] fears.

David was a brilliant engineer and it was no surprise that having graduated at the top of his class in university, he was the first choice for the country’s most prestigious and market-leading aeronautics engineering company. He worked hard with utmost loyalty. It was no surprise therefore that barely a year later, he was promoted to head the design team, thus becoming the youngest engineer in the history of the company to achieve such a respected and coveted position.

The years went by happily. He got married to a lovely English girl and was blessed with two adorable children who thought the world of him, a feeling that was entirely mutual. At work, things could not have been better. The company had received great media exposure over its new Supersonic jet, which his team was proud to have designed. The prototype was excellent and the maiden flight, scheduled for the following week from New York to London and back, was completely sold out. The world’s focus was trained on this maiden voyage. The company expected to receive huge orders upon the success of the flight and earn billions of dollars as well as fame and accolades from the scientific world. Indeed, life was great and he looked forward to soon accepting board membership, thus making history yet again.

But then, on a Monday morning, he noticed an anomaly in the final test reports of the prototype. It seemed that there could be a small chance of the engines being unable to withstand the highest speed of the jet. He checked the results over and over and over again. But there it was – a minute flaw but nevertheless a flaw. He was shattered to say the least. His first instinct was to immediately inform his boss so that the maiden flight could be cancelled. But then the consequences of doing so flashed through his mind: He would never have a place on the board. In fact, he would surely be fired on the spot and never work in the industry again in any part of the world. His children would have to leave private school. Even worse, they too would be teased and humiliated by their friends, because of their dad’s failure. But above all, the company would be ruined forever. The press would have a field day and it would never be able to recover from such public humiliation. ‘No, no, no. I cannot do this, I just can’t.’

He paced up and down in his office for hours and hours. Finally, he reached the conclusion that it was best to remain quiet and ignore the whole issue. After all, a 0.01% chance of a problem was not ikely to manifest itself. The design was solid and had been approved by many, many experts, none of whom had raised any objections. Perhaps he was over-thinking the issue, given his perfectionist nature. With that, he locked up the reports, putting them out of sight and out of mind.

The maiden flight took off from JFK Airport amidst great pomp and fanfare, all passengers bubbly and excited. Like a proud father, he watched (on his monitor) the jet eat up the miles and when it landed at Heathrow merely three hours after departing from New York, he popped the cork on the champagne bottle, his heart jumping with joy. Two hours later, the jet departed Heathrow with equally excited passengers, looking forward to landing in New York in the shortest time ever.

Meanwhile, back in New York, at the company headquarters, the mood was very festive. The wine flowed freely and all company employees and executives were in top spirits. David held court in the centre of the room, graciously bowing his head at the numerous kudos and congratulations he was receiving from all directions. He was on Cloud Nine and beamed every time he thought of the great things that lay ahead for him. Suddenly, the clamour in the room died down as all eyes turned towards the enormous television screen in the corner of the room. The words “BREAKING NEWS: SUPERJET CRASHES” flashed across the bottom of the screen. Someone immediately turned the volume up and the whole room collectively gasped in horror as the news anchor, in a sombre voice, informed the world that the Supersonic Jet had crashed into the Atlantic barely an hour before it was due to land at JFK. It seemed there were no survivors.

David wished he was dead. The anchor’s voice and disastrous words reverberated like thunderbolts in his head and he thought his heart would come crashing out of his chest at any minute. There was an eerie silence in the room except for the muffled sobs of the secretaries. David slumped to the floor, tears flowing unchecked down his cheeks. ‘Why did I not stop the flight when I had the chance to?’ This thought made his whole body go numb. He, himself, was responsible for all those deaths!!!

But worse was yet to come. David’s cellphone started ringing. Still in a trance, he switched it on and heard his father-in-law’s voice, shaky and steeped in grief, relaying the devastating news. His two sons, holidaying in England with their grandparents, had decided to cut their trip short in order to give David a huge surprise. They managed to obtain last-minute seats on the Supersonic Jet, only because they were David’s sons! His father-in-law started sobbing openly now and in the background, David could hear the agonised screams of his mother-in-law. Switching off the phone, he started wailing like a banshee. His anguished screams echoing throughout the building. The stricken, accusing eyes of his wife was the last image he saw before everything dissolved into black oblivion…”

“Oh my God!” I cried. “How terribly awful!”

“Indeed,” Grandmother agreed. “David received a heavy punishment but he had only himself to blame. He forgot that his promotion, his job, his family and the company were not more important than the hundreds of innocent people whose lives he put at risk by keeping quiet. His fear of the consequences of doing the right thing resulted in the destruction of his happiness forever.”

“But what if he had informed his boss and the boss refused to listen and cancel the flight? What if he was forced to keep quiet or else face immediate termination?” I asked hotly.

“Then he should have resigned immediately and informed the authorities and the media of his findings as well as his boss’ refusal to listen to him and cancel the flight. Perhaps the media would have pressurised the company to cancel the flight, in which case no lives would have been lost. His boss would have been the universal villain and David a hero earning the respect of one and all. Above all, he would have a guilt-free conscience and his own family would have been safe. Who knows? All that I am convinced of is that David would triumph because doing the right thing makes God happy and proud and therefore cannot go unrewarded. In our everyday lives, the stakes may not be as high as they were for David and thus easier to ignore but a wrong is a wrong. And must be courageouslyopposed. That is the duty of a true mo’min. Believe me, every human being, at one time or the other, WILL come across such a situation and will have to decide whether to becourageous or cowardly and selfish.

Your earlier question, Alysha, was actually very apt because it touched on the second aspect that I wish to discuss today. Most people fail to do the right thing because of pressure put on them by people in authority, more powerful and influential people than themselves, whom they are unable to oppose or question.

General Jesop, mandated with the command of the US Marine Camp in Cuba, always considered himself to be a real man: tough, brave, fearless and a born leader. He ran his camp with an iron fist, preferring to instil fear in his marines. He needed every one of his men to unequivocally obey his commands. This could only be achieved, or so he thought, if they feared him. The camp was in dangerous territory and not following orders could result in heavy loss of lives in the event of an enemy attack.

General Jesop hated Private Willy Nelson from the minute he arrived and wanted him off his camp. He thought Willy was a frail, namby-pamby geek, unworthy of being a marine, and especially his marine. However, all of the General’s attempts at making Willy give up and demand a transfer failed. No matter how punishing the routine, Willy doggedly carried on. After all, he needed to make his family proud. His great-grandfather, grandfather and father were all decorated war veterans and Willy did not wish to let them down.

The General then enlisted two of his best Privates, Joel and Harry, to bully, harass and hound Willy in the barracks at night. This would surely succeed in getting rid of him. Joel and Harry actually liked Willy and admired his determination but they could not go against the General. They feared him too much and so they had to comply.

The pranks were often cruel and humiliating, making Willy’s life a living hell. Unfortunately, one such prank went horribly wrong. As Joel and Harry dipped Willy’s head repetitively into the toilet bowl, they failed to notice that Willy was having trouble breathing and only when his body went slack did they let up, to find that Willy was unconscious. In a state of panic, they tried their best to revive him but, tragically, Willy died.

Of course, it was Joel and Harry who were held responsible and they would soon face a grim court martial. Their pleas for leniency, claiming it was only meant to be a prank, fell on deaf ears and it was widely rumoured that both men would surely face execution. However, their defence attorney convinced them to confess the truth and inform the court of the General’s role in the tragedy. Their fear of the General had made them hold their tongues for a long time but finally, faced with a guilty verdict and death, they spoke up. The General was arrested and sentenced to death. As for Joel and Harry, they were shocked to learn that they had been dishonourably discharged from the US Marines.

“But we were only following orders. Is that not what a US Marine has been trained to do?” they protested.

“Not if the order is unjust, unfair or immoral. Even if it was the General giving the said order,” came the reply.

Both Joel and Harry led a life of disgrace thereafter. Society could not forgive them. Nobody wanted to employ such disreputable soldiers. Nobody wanted to socialise with them also. Or even live near them. It was soon heard that Joel hanged himself. As for Harry, nobody quite knows what became of him…

For most human beings, it is impossible to oppose people in authority. Haven’t we often heard about bosses telling their secretaries to say on the phone that they are not in, the mistress of the house telling her maid to get rid of the unwelcome neighbour at the front door by making an excuse that the mistress is sleeping or she is not well or she is having a bath etc and the employees meekly comply?”

“Uh oh,” I interjected, chagrined.

“Such instances are countless in number and are a daily occurrence. It is only with greatcourage that one can stand up to one’s boss or to one’s employer or to a higher person and refuse to do anything wrong. Am I not right? And yet, truth and right are higher than everything else.”

“Surely what you are saying makes sense but it all seems to be like a Herculean task. How does one develop such courage? We are not angels or celestial beings. We are merely mortal humans, after all.”

“What you say is true but the trick is NOT TO FORGET THAT NOTHING MATTERS MORE THAN THE TRUTH AND THE RIGHT. In the words of Varas Ismail Gangji’s mother: ‘Have no misgivings as to how you will find your livelihood now. One who walks the path of righteousness never comes to grief. Truth befriends the righteous man. Treading the path of righteousness, you will always be happy.’

Always remember this when faced with the dilemma of doing the right thing. Automatically, you will gain courage.

Secondly, God has filled the world with exemplary human beings of exceptional courage. At such times, remember them and you will feel braver. Mahatma Gandhi, frail, weak but highly courageous and convicted to his principles; remember the blood-soaked face of the late Nobel Laureate Wangari Mathai as forest officers beat her mercilessly with their truncheons, she never backed down. In her eyes, it was wrong to cut trees and harm the environment and she stood up for this right to the very end. There are many others: Nelson Mandela and the latest additions, Anna Hazare and Baba Ram Dev.

Remember their courage.

But above all else, keep in your heart and in your mind the words of the Imam: ‘The true mo ‘min is like a fearless lion. The true mo’min fears only God and nothing and no one else.’

At times when you need the courage to do the right thing, nothing works better than a silent prayer to the Almighty, telling Him that you wish to do the right thing but that you are weak and fearful, and you need the courage to stand up for the truth. Doubtlessly, He will be happy and proud to fill your heart with courage immediately.”

Karmic Catastrophe

The phone call left me cross and irritated. I felt my editor had been a little too critical of the first draft of the beginning chapters of my novel, and I did not like it at all. Fuming inwardly, I stomped off to the study, annoyed at all the rewriting I would have to do. When I reached my desk, the printed draft of my novel was nowhere to be seen. “It was here just a minute ago!” I exclaimed, my annoyance escalating. I shouted our housekeeper’s name and when she appeared a few minutes later, I really let her have it. All the irritation and anger I had towards my editor exploded in the form of a tirade against the housekeeper. Some of it even in broken Swahili.

“I have told you never to touch my desk! Don’t even go near it! Don’t even look at it! Is that too difficult for your thick head to understand? How dare you touch my papers! Apana sikia? Wewe jingaa?”

I went on and on, fuelled by my anger. The housekeeper, her head bowed down, said nothing and this infuriated me even further.

“I am not talking to the walls! I am asking you something! Has the cat got your tongue? Why did you touch my papers? I should have you sacked, right here and now, you imbecile woman!”

Just then my grandmother entered the room and, in a mild tone of voice, sent the housekeeper out on an errand. As the poor woman thankfully scuttled from of the room, my grandmother looked at me reprovingly.

“Shut the door and come and sit here,” she said, patting an armchair next to hers.

I meekly did as I was told, already feeling slightly mortified at my lousy behaviour.

“Listen to this carefully,” and thus began her narration:

Late one night, New Year’s Eve, a desperate and wild-eyed Jennifer urgently hails a cab and demands that the driver immediately takes her to the Queensborough Bridge. “It is a matter of life and death!” she exclaims. “Hurry! We have to be there before midnight, or else someone will die!”

Before the cab had the chance to pull away from the curb, a furious looking David jumps into the cab next to Jennifer.

“Oh no, you don’t, Missy!” he says, gritting his teeth and pointing a finger at her accusingly. “You are going nowhere until you pay your bill.”
Ignoring the irritated owner of the bar and restaurant at which she has just spent several (wasted) hours, Jennifer once again urges the taxi driver to go to the bridge. With a squeal of tyres, the cab is off. Jennifer then looks at David and tells him to calm down and tries to explain to him why she is in such an urgent hurry. At first, David refuses to believe her and says she is just a cunning woman who is making up crazy tales just to get out of paying her bill. Jennifer then recounts to him how she had been waiting, for several hours at a corner table in the restaurant, nursing her solitary glass of wine, for her date to appear. It had taken a long time for her to give in to his constant pleas for a date with her and now that she had agreed, he had stood her up, and that even on New Year’s Eve! An intense feeling of frustration and anger suffused her entire being.

“It was truly unfortunate that at that very moment you approached my table, to ask if everything was alright. Before I could answer, your cellphone stated ringing. Without thinking, I snatched your cellphone out of your hands, peeved at its loudness, and flung it into the nearby fish tank.

As a result of that action of mine, you missed an important call that you were expecting from your bank, didn’t you? This made you very angry and you yelled at your dishwasher Pedro, ordering him to stop daydreaming and get on with the job. Well, because of you, Pedro, miffed at being reprimanded, and upset at not having found his brother whom he had come all the way from Mexico to look for, yelled at his girlfriend, the waitress. The cycle continued with the waitress yelling at the bartender who yelled at the customers. First, he yelled at Beth, a petite lady who burst into tears and rushed out of the restaurant immediately she was yelled at. Then, he was also rude to a smartly dressed, officious and dignified looking gentleman. That was indeed a travesty for you because that gentleman was the bank loan officer! Having been unable to get you on your cellphone, he decided to walk the two blocks to talk to you personally at your restaurant and grant you the extension that you were really hoping for to keep your restaurant running.”

By now, David loses his steam and is in fact gaping at Jennifer, his mouth open in shocked surprise.

“H-h-h-how do you know all this?” he stammers.

Grimly, Jennifer continues her tale, reminding David how, after the bank officer had huffily told him to forget about his loan extension and walked out of the restaurant, David had marched over to her table, shaking his fist at her, ranting and raving at the top of his voice, blaming her for having ruined his whole life. “He wouldn’t have come here at all if I had just been able to speak to him on my cellphone, you witch!”

“Already emotionally distraught at having been stood up so cruelly, your angry accusations were too much for me to bear and I fainted. I am sure you remember that.”

David nods, recalling vividly how long it had taken him to revive her, and how upon gaining consciousness, she had just rushed out of the restaurant without a word and also without paying her bill.

“When I fainted, I had a vision in which an angel – tall, white with a halo of glimmering light surrounding his entire body – appeared before me. The angel told me that he understood how angry I was feeling that evening and why, but I should not have directed my anger towards you(David) in this manner. It was the angel who described the chain of events that was started after I flung your cellphone into the fish tank. This chain of events resulted in your losing your restaurant and would now further result in Beth losing her LIFE. Shocked and surprised at this revelation, I requested the angel to explain more clearly about Beth. It so happened that Beth was completely depressed after the death of her husband and had been toying with the idea of ending her life. It had been an uphill task for the angel, assigned by God to look over Beth, to dissuade her from her suicidal intentions and give life another chance by going out on New Year’s Eve. The bartender yelling at her at the restaurant was the final nail in the coffin for Beth, foiling months and months of concerted efforts by the angel. In fact, she was now heading towards the Queensborough Bridge, planning to jump off it at the stroke of midnight. It was at this moment that I came to and I had to rush out immediately to try and stop Beth. I hope you understand now that I was not trying to cheat you.”

David now joins Jennifer in urging the cab driver to step on the accelerator. As soon as the cab arrives on the bridge, both David and Jennifer run towards Beth who is about to jump. Jennifer reveals to Beth how she is responsible and apologises to her for her role in the chain of events. David also apologises, on behalf of his bartender, to Beth. Thankfully, Beth accepts their apologies and allows them to lead her back to the cab and upon arriving at the restaurant, David invites everyone in, including the cab driver, for a last drink at the restaurant before it closes down the next day.

You will be interested to know that Jennifer’s bravery at accepting her mistake and then trying her best to put right what went wrong had miraculous results. It turned out that the cab driver, Carlos, was Pedro, the dishwasher’s brother whom he had come to find from Mexico. Their reunion was indeed heart-warming. It also turned out that Beth’s late husband had left her a sizeable fortune and Beth offered to become David’s partner in the restaurant, thus bailing him out of his financial predicament. As for Jennifer, she learnt a very important lesson from all of this, didn’t she?

As did I. Sighing heavily, deeply ashamed of myself, I went in search of our housekeeper and taking her hand into mine, I offered heartfelt apologies for having been so upset and angry with her over such a trivial matter. She was quite gracious and told me to forget all about it. Immediately, I felt better and returned to my grandmother who smiled benignly.

“Anger is man’s worst enemy. Just as Holy Pir Sadardin has said, Eji kaam krodh jenaa ghat mahe zaher jaagya, tene jeetya jeetya daav sarve haariya. But of course, anger is not at all easy to overcome. And it is really, really easy to vent your anger on the first person you come across at that time. But as we learn from the story, this will set forth into motion a chain of events that will have far reaching, destructive and devastating consequences. Therefore, if you are ever angry, you should immediately ISOLATE yourself. Walk away from everybody. Be by yourself until you have calmed down. In this way, you will be able to avoid karmic catastrophe for which you would have been held responsible. Secondly, it can happen that someone else has vented their anger on you and this, in turn, has made you angry. Same thing. Do not let the chain of events continue on to a third person now. Isolate yourself immediately and give yourself time to calm down.”

This is the life-changing lesson I have learnt from my grandmother today.