LIFE AS IT IS

Have you ever experienced an intense feeling of happiness washing over you after performing an act of kindness? If yes, then you are one of those who have felt what psychologists call the Helper’s High, an uplifting feeling that helps the mind, body, and spirit.  The Daily Star Google Images This is the month of Ramadan. Muslims perform acts of charity or give to charitable causes every year, especially during this month, in the form of Zakat, one of the five pillars of Islam. Although most of us give to charitable causes, the amount we donate are not always commensurate with our wealth. Therefore, it is important that we calculate our due Zakat before we pay it. I have often heard the elderly relatives in my family say, “If people paid their Zakat in full, the country would not have any poor people.” We often forget the importance of this third pillar of Islam. So even though many of us pray five times a day, fast during Ramadan, and have performed the Hajj, we ap...

This was the only hummingbird I ever touched. It was stunned after colliding with our window. I brought it home, fed it homemade nectar (sugar + water) with the help of a syringe, and kept it in a shoebox for the night. The following morning it was drinking well and was soon able to fly. I remember calling up the local wildlife rehabilitator for help. By the time one of their volunteers came, this bird was flying around the house and climbing on me.  The volunteer and I took the bird where the collision occurred and released it to its environment. I secretly wished (shhh!) that I could keep it, but wild animals “belong” in the wild...