Sitting in my room, I tried to reflect on the past few months. I failed to focus on my personal verve and its events. My thoughts started their journey from Asia – pondering over tsunami, moving through Gulf Coast and Guatemala, and finally brought me back to the Asian subcontinent. Questions arose.

Is it really true that the earth has gone crazy? That on its one end, it is spilling water and on the other end, its chaotic tremble has caused a history to be written in human life desertion? Have we really pushed our limits and used all the natural resources that are now causing the earth to hit back at us in order to balance itself? I realized that earth had little role to play as those disasters were caused by water, winds and tremors, far beyond the earth’s control. What is the reason that every now and then human generations are suffering a wipeout from the face of the earth? Why have we lost so many lives through Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Pakistan? Are we really heading toward something big?

Have we simply forgotten the story of Noah and his people? What is God trying to tell us? You might take my analysis of these events dramatic but ask yourself, “Is it fair to call these events just a natural disaster?” You might say that like the Rev. Graham Hess in “Signs,” I have the tendency to relate these events with a bigger reason for our existence in this universe. I am not saying by any means that the above mentioned disasters happened due to some alien conspiracy, but I have a strong belief that every event that happens has been predestined on earth and there is a reason for it. These are the checkpoints in our lives that God has placed.

It is time that we need to evaluate our actions and our daily dealings within this society. And here is the million dollar question: Is it the time when we need to be closer to our religion than ever? Are we much too occupied in this mere world that the Ultimate Power of the Universe has to make us realize that it is not too late to reflect on ourselves? I would say so. After connecting this chain of thoughts I realized that we are immeasurably fortunate that we have been granted the opportunity to think and reflect on our lives so that we may learn and mend our ways. May God guide us to mend our ways? Amen.

Abdul Basit is a University student. Please send comments to [email protected].