Exams stress

Showkat —

Exams stress

By Showkat Ali


It’s that time of year

When I’m full of fear

Scared and unable to sleep

I keep these thoughts near

Afraid to share

Or show my fears


Revising hard

Like it’s a bigger fard

Than following Islam

Which keeps me calm


My final exams are nigh

End of an era

But my mind is full of terror

Grade eleven

Final year

Have to do well

A few A*'s and maybe

A couple of A's

That is If I’m lucky

If not how do I tell my family

That I failed miserably?


My mum crying

My dad staring

Into space

With an empty face

Sombre dark frame of mind

Takes hold like somebody died


I let down the family

What will people say?

Relatives boasting

Their kids done outstanding

Whilst my parents hide their shame

In isolation

Holding me for the blame


My life aint worth living

And I think about myself deeply

I think about suicide

Ending this pain and worry

With escape to break free


Expectations so high

My older siblings are flying

In their careers

Doctors and engineers


I’m expected

To go higher

Maintain the tradition

To succeed in education


Qualifications

Job applications

Working hard

Lots of money

Fame and success

Is everything


Getting married

Having kids

Retirement

And that’s the end!


That’s the plan my parents got

But I find my mind

Thinking and asking

Is their more to life than this?

Following the society

or following my Creator?


Where does happiness and success lie?

This life or the next?

You decide.


Exams can be retaken

But if I waste my life

Will I get the chance to come back and re-take?


The author can be contacted on showkotali@hotmail.com

His blog www.Islamic-education.blogspot.com


Please feel free to publish, forward and circulate as widely as possible.


Forum

Sajid Iqbal — Thu, 24 May 2007 - 19:40

excellent lyrics...

u keep ur efforts on this kind of stuff bro... rather than the political anti-western stuff 🙂


no, i really like it...made proper sense...


well done.


Showkat — Thu, 24 May 2007 - 21:53

[quote="TheRevivalEditor"]excellent lyrics...

u keep ur efforts on this kind of stuff bro... rather than the political anti-western stuff 🙂


no, i really like it...made proper sense...


well done.[/quote]


JazakAllah brother, your comments much appreciated, please feel free to put this in hte magazine if you wish.


As for the political stuff well its reality as I and many people see it.


As for anti-western, well some would say that the Quran states many things which we must accept as fact eg The only way of life acceptable to Allah is Islam.


Mr Honey's Day Out — Fri, 25 May 2007 - 02:15

Any decent kid thinking the stuff in that poem needs a bit of reassurance and encouragement, not a guilt trip. I wouldn't glorify that frame of mind. Nothing wrong with becoming a doctor.


yashmaki — Fri, 25 May 2007 - 12:34

his poem got me thinking something i was talking over with my husband. I too used to think typical asian parents always wanting their kids to be doctors and lawyers without a regard for what they want. But now i'm beginning to understand their mindset in a way. They just don't want their kids to struggle in adulthood like they did.


Many of our parents came here and got menial jobs working in factories, doing cleaning jobs etc etc. Jobs with no real prospects. They worked very hard to earn their wage packet and had very little luxuries to give their children. I remember patching up clothes as a kid, using hand me downs from other siblings. Nowadays clothes are so cheap you can buy new clothes even on the smallest of budgets. Things were different then.


So is it so bad that our parents want us to go into professional jobs, coz lets face it that's where the big earning potential is.


Also if you look at the most successful ppl on earth with regards to wealth and vocations they tended to have really pushy parents, or they themselves were extremely ambitious and always willing to take a risk. That's how i want my children to be with regards to work. I dont want them to just get by and do without luxuries. There's nothing wrong with a few luxuries especially if you earn it in an honest way.


We spend half our lives studying then the rest working just so we can have a comfortable lifestyle. So why waste it in dead end jobs, when we have the potential to do better?


I wouldn't force my kid into something they weren't interested in. But kids get their interests likes and dislikes via influences. So i will positively influence them, nothing wrong with that. End of the day it's their choice. But i know i'm not letting my child go through years and years of the education system just to sit in a job they could have got without even so much as basic gcses.


If they're not good in academic things then i'll put my kid through an apprenticeship, many great entrepreneaurs have been born through this nothing shameful in it, even though asians think there is. The degree route isn't the only way.


p.s Being a doc isn;t so bad think of all the humanitarian work you can do?


P.S it is possible to have a balanced life where religious obligations and others are met. The greatest islamic scholars of the past were mathmaticians, physicians, astronomers etc etc as well as islamic scholars ever thght of that?


Zunnaira — Fri, 25 May 2007 - 20:09

i think its very important for muslims to get out into de community n have proffesional careers and should be encouraged because i know 4 a fact alot of muslims just choose de easy way out of education!