Inspiration in time of mishap

bY: Abdullah Abdel Karim

(An Emirati writer)

“If you want an excellent service, serve yourself.”

This inspiring quote was said by the internationally renowned Portuguese novelist José de Sousa Saramago, who died in 2010, aged 88. Portugal announced two days of national mourning after his death.

The veteran writer won several international awards, including the Nobel Prize in literature in 1998.

As I was reading one of his books, I was mesmerised by his quote: “Even in our worst mishap, there’s also so much hope and goodness to be found that enable us to withstand it and keep going.”

Indeed, it is an inspirational quote in these challenging days of corona crisis.
The Covid-19 pandemic with all its variants across the past two years seemed to be the worst affliction for humanity. Yet, if we reflect on these days, we will find silver linings as well. This depends on the way individuals react and how they hack new ways to live. Have they changed in the way they think?

Setbacks can be discouraging, but quite often they turn out to be blessings in disguise.

Let got back to what Saramago said: “if you want an excellent service, serve yourself.” If we decide to care about ourselves through nourishing our minds with knowledge and cementing our moral values, then we will be doing the best service for ourselves.

Saramago’s rise to prominence came late in life. When he was in his 60s, his novel Blindness was hailed as a masterpiece. None of the characters are referred to by name, but by their professions and their relationships to one another. Another novel Death with Interruptions is about a village where death suddenly stops and what happens, as result later.  More than two million copies of Saramago’s books have been sold in Portugal alone and his work has been translated into 25 languages.

Saramago was born in 1922 in a village in Portugal. His family members were rural labourers. In his autobiography, Saramago says that after having a premonition of his final days, he went about embracing the trees of his garden, crying and saying:

“If you cannot live among these objects without their leaving an impression on you, you are devoid of emotion.”

What situations you have experienced these challenging days of pandemic? Can you reflect on them and, as a result, change the way you live and think better?