Tuesday, September 3, 2013

I Was Sad Because I Had No Shoes


Asalamu Alaykom,





Rarely have I watched a 4-minute video and had it stay in my mind as much as this video.  I talked about it to my son when he was whining.  I referenced it again tonight.

My husband's teenage niece was crying because she can't go out at night.  This isn't because her mom is over protective it's because the girl is losing her eyesight to Retinitious Pigmentosa and can't see well enough to navigate safely.  Her older brother has the same problem.  It's been going on for years and it will keep going until they are blind.  Yes, there is a real reason why you should not marry your cousin.

So, I told this girl how everyone has a problem.  She can't leave the house at night because she can't see well.  I can't leave the house at night because I'm not Egyptian.  I told her how there's a beautiful girl at school who seems to have everything yet she has lost her mom.  Don't wish to trade your life with another.

That's what this video is about.  It's short and bittersweet.  I recommend it for kids (and grown-ups) who complain about their life.

The phrase, "I was sad because I had no shoes, until I met a man with no feet," is very old and it has Muslim origins.    WikiAnswers has more information:

This quote is most certainly based on poetry from the Gulistan,  "Rose Garden" of [Persian poet] Sa'di. The book is from 1259 CE, so this will predate any other attribution out there.  

The original source for this saying reads: 


I never lamented about the vicissitudes of time or complained of the turns of fortune except on the occasion when I was barefooted and unable to procure slippers. But when I entered the great mosque of Kufah with a sore heart and beheld a man without feet I offered thanks to the bounty of God, consoled myself for my want of shoes and recited: 'A roast fowl is to the sight of a satiated man Less valuable than a blade of fresh grass on the table And to him who has no means nor power A burnt turnip is a roasted fowl.'

By the way, two million Syrian refugees would probably love to trade places with you and your family right now.  Say, an "alhumdulillah," for whatever you thought you were suffering and a "Ya Rab!" for those who have it worse.