THE CHILDHOOD DREAMS

"IT IS YOU WE WORSHIP AND YOU WE ASK FOR HELP" [The Qur'an, 1:5]

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" A common question every child has to answer. And when this was asked to two souls, they decided their purpose in life throughout youth. This story is about two brothers: the older brother wanted to become an artist, he was so talented that his joy in painting and people's admirations pushed him to pursue this path. The younger one was always fascinated by stars and whatever lied beyond the earth's sky, he wished to reach faraway planets and see it all with his own eyes.

Their goals were different, but as they grew up, both of them faced the same difficulties in the course of their journey. For it is easy to want but hard to have.

Hence it wasn't all colorful for the older brother to reach his dream, there were many complications: he wasn't able to sell his art to an amount that was enough to support his own family. So he prayed and prayed to his Lord, asked him for a better solution. Every time he was afflicted with something bad; the first thing he did was to bow down his head to the Almighty in humility and adoration. On the contrary, his younger brother did never sympathize with his behaviour: When things wouldn't go in his favor, he'd try by himself to find a way out of the tribulation or ask his friends for a hand.

One day He asked his older brother: "Why is that the first thing you do is to pray when you should take action to come out of the problem. The ones who can promote your work are outside that door, you should go and request your friends, they'll assist you immediately. We make friends so that we can help each other out in hardships. They'll expand your name so that you can sell your art and finally become famous. Isn't that what you want to be?". His older brother thought about this for a while and replied: "It is true, there is nothing wrong in seeking friends for help, but if our Allah wills, only then they are able to come to our aid. Therefore, I ask refuge in the One who has the whole power over everything.". They were brothers but their points of view always clashed on this matter, they couldn't understand one and another.

Nevertheless, both of them succeeded in their own ways: the older brother who dreamt of being a famous artist became a mere labourer at first, but he never stopped asking God to give him success. He was very hard-working and would put his heart in whatever he did. So with time, he climbed to a higher rank one by one. Until one day he saved enough to open his own business that supported artists to expose their creations on a wider market.

He realized that perhaps what Allah (SWT) wants for us is way better than what we want for ourselves.

The younger brother smoothly mastered in astrophysics and cosmology as he was very intelligent. Afterwards, he invested plenty of time and energy applying for jobs and solely asked people for help. He used to think that to obtain something one should take measures that bring him closer to his objective, and help comes only by a person to another person, in times of difficulties. And so with the reference of an acquaintance, he was finally able to land on an amazing job at the most successful space centre.

After a few years he was selected to depart on a mission to Neptune's moon: Triton, he grabbed the opportunity as this was his long-awaited wish. Thanks to the upgraded, high-tech spaceship and equipment, he and his team were able to travel through the Solar system in merely a few days.

He was delighted by the scenery his eyes were witnessing, finally, his dream came true. It was an unforgettable moment of his life, the excitement he was feeling made him burst in happiness. The sun and the planets were spheres of different sizes with a black background that shined a few stars.

The team reached their destination and started doing their jobs as planned: to set up a space colony. But just before their mission was about to be accomplished, a windstorm hit their base and muddled everything. The team tried getting into a shelter but failed, and he fainted.

When he woke up, he was alone on an unknown location. He had his device with him that would have given information on his position and communication services to his team but it was not working. He didn't give up and tried to repair it. But there was no luck. He stood up and walked around calling out his teammates' names continuously. Yet there was no response in return, which made him even more anxious. He was breathing heavily in distress, but still, he continued to run from here to there and didn't stop looking for signs. Until he collapsed, exhausted. No water, no person, no signal, and no direction: he was completely lost. And there was no mean to ask for help. He laid on the cold, hard surface and cried. He felt helpless and hopeless. He looked up in the deep dark sky, blurred by the hazy atmosphere of the satellite. He closed his eyes: now all he could see was clear blackness. Just like the situation he was in, no way out and no light at all.

Suddenly he remembered his older brother: and a light crossed his mind like a flash. He could finally relate to his brother's habits he thought were irrelevant. His condition made him turn to the Lord of the Worlds because it doesn't matter where we are, on Earth at home or on a faraway Moon, He is the Creator thus He is the All-hearing and All-seeing. He fell into prostration and bent his head down to Allah (SWT). Although his eyes were crying, his heart declared all the words his tongue didn't have the courage to speak. He realized he was the wrong one all along, and he didn't deserve all that happiness yet God made his dream come true, in spite of transgressing the Truth his entire life. He wept for hours and asked for forgiveness prior to pleading for help.

He closed his eyes, all teary, and fell asleep in agony and regret.

When he woke up, he looked around his surroundings which were somehow familiar: he was laying down inside their base. His mates came to him and asked: "How are you feeling? Is everything alright?". He sighed and felt relieved. He got up and embraced his friends: "Praise be to God. I'm truly grateful for everything.".