Stand up and fight

In these times, you see people crying out loud for numerous reasons that may be causing them pain. The biggest pain of the younger generation seems to be seeing their other half leaving them, cheating on them; or having difficulty finding a job. There have been incidents reported in the recent past of young people going as far as ending their lives because they couldn’t take the pain of rejection.

To all those people, who feel that the pain they feel is unique to them and is nothing like anyone has ever felt before, I recommend they speak to people who have been through similar painful experiences. Alternatively, they could visit the Aga Khan Hospital’s chemotherapy ward to catch a glimpse of what real excruciating pain is. They will see that kids, as young as seven years, experience the kind of pain that many people have only read about in books, just to have another day to live.

I want them to visit that place, so that they can see people who, knowing their illness is well beyond anyone’s control, still go through pain so that they can live for 250 days instead of 180.

I believe that in this world, everyone has a struggle, a battle of their own, and that fight can come in different shapes or sizes. All you need to do is to stand up and fight, and leave the rest to the Almighty because the result doesn’t matter; it’s the effort that counts, and if you give it your all, you will be a victor regardless of the result.

The patients facing their battles and struggles in hospitals against life-threatening diseases are victors because they are fighting it out instead of giving up. I, too, fought my battle in Aga Khan, and came out victorious with the help of the Almighty, because I fought without thinking whether the end result would be in my favour or not.

The choice is yours: to fight it out and be a winner regardless of the result or to die without knowing what could have been.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30^th,  2015.