PEEPING BACK INTO THE PAST

There are three stages man is made to experience during his earthly sojourn – The Past, The Present and The Future.

We live and enjoy our present situations, we enthusiastically anticipate the future and all the good things that is to come and for the past, it’s a whole different story.

Everyone has a past in which we have had several experiences – for some of us our past is so glamorous, glittering and interesting that people are always mesmerized to listen to its tales because your deed in it was what led to your present blissful condition.

But for some of us, our past experience is a complete doom and darkness. We were made to experience recurrent calamities of varying magnitude that almost tears us apart.

The disappointment some of us had in the past jolted us so badly that we lost our happiness and sometimes causes us to plunge ourselves into a depressive memory mode.

Our past is so full of shackles that even in the present situation, we still nurture the scary and abhorring feeling and this makes us lose our present situation and makes us despair of the future that is to come.

Like in the case of a lady who used to be very provocative and indecent in the past…She had no sense of shame whatsoever, to the point that she would allow any man to derive her canal knowledge with ease.

She’s seen as a cheap slut within her community and sometimes, she’s being called a dog because of her low moral standard.

But with the divine grace, this lady was able to retrace her steps and decided to recommit herself into the service of her Lord. She therefore starts to live a virtuous life; she would always dress in a modest way and eschewed all her dirty habits that she was engrossed to in the past.

Despite having become a pious lady in her present day, whenever she taps into her memory of the past, she feels bittered and saddened, regretting all she had done in the past. She will sometimes cry because the memory is still very recurrent in her head.

Even those who knew who she was in the past would always taunt her in regards it. Whenever she passes by, they would tap themselves as a gesture of mockery and this had a negative influence on her timid emotions.

Or in the case of a guy who when he was in the prime of his youth, he was always found creating havoc and mischief in the community. He has been involved in several crimes and murder cases - he used to catch fun in harassing women, he has deprived people of their rights and he walks arrogantly on earth oppressing the feeble ones.

This guy in his present day has become a very responsible man who takes real good care of his family and the community at large. He would gladly volunteer to be involved in any humanitarian services and he has become a complete opposite of what he used to be in the past.

But whenever he peeps back into all he has been involved in the past, he feel guilty, his conscience hunts him down and a stream of tears flows down his eyes. “Why did I ever do all those reckless things”? He would frequently ask himself.

Sometimes, he would even think God will never pardon him for all the crimes he had committed. He seems to be 100% convinced that he will be punished and this makes him depressed.

Hey there! Listen up…Whatever it is your past entails has already happened and nothing much can be done in regards it. It may be true that those memories frequently hunt you down especially when people remind you of them.

You feel really ashamed of yourself and you have an unhealthy thought of your personality. You need to realize that bygones are bygones – you can’t travel back to it. The best that can be done is to avoid falling into those errors again, and ensure that you live your present day in amendment of your past errors.

Those who taunt you in regards your past experience are nothing but a pessimist who will always want to see you despair of yourself. They also have their past experiences but they are so reckless that they haven’t rectified it till date. So, seeing you in a different image is what bitters them a lot.

No matter how heinous those crimes you committed in the past may prove to be, there is always a room for repentance.

In regards your plight, The Most Merciful God (AR-RAHMAN) has said in the divine estimation;

“Say to my servant who had committed crimes against themselves not to ever despair of the Mercy of Allah. Indeed Allah forgives all sins”

So, if The most Merciful God had proclaimed that “You should never despair of His Mercy” why then do you beat up yourself so much that sometimes you even contemplate suicide. Whatever your past records may entail, there is always a room to make amends.

And finally I would advice that “You should not waste new tears on the Past – whatever has happened in the past, let it remain in the past and live your present day in the perfect way such that your future will be filled with glittering hopes and aspirations

And MY PEN rests here.

SANNI WAHAB OLANREWAJU.