Story of three friends who came to the New
York City:
Not long ago, three friends came to the New
York city. They decided to stay in a hotel
during the visit. It so happened that their
room ended up being on the 60th floor. The
policy of the hotel was that every night after
12:00 a.m. the elevators are shut down for
security reasons. So on the next day, the three
friends rented a car and went out to explore
the city. They enjoyed movies, concerts, and
other things throughout the whole day. At
one point, they remembered that they have to
get back to the hotel before 12 a.m. When
they arrived, it was beyond 12 a.m. at night.
The elevators were shut down. There was no
other way to get back to their room but to
take the stairs all the way to the 60th floor. All
of a sudden, one friend got an idea. He said
"For the first 20 floors, I will tell jokes to keep
us going. Then another one of us could say
wisdom stories for the next 20 floors. Then,
we will cover the other 20 floors with sad
stories." So, one of the friends started with
the jokes. With laughs and joy, they reached
the 20th floor. Now, another friend started
saying stories that are full of wisdom. So, they
learned a lot while reaching the 40th floor.
Now, it was time for the sad stories. So, the
third friend started thus, "My first sad story is
that I left the key for the room in the car."
Now, what is the point of this story? This
story resembles our life cycle. For the first 20
years of our life, we spend time in joking and
enjoying whatever is out there. Then, after we
reach 20, we go into the work force, get
married, have kids and this is the time when
we use our wisdom. Then, if we reach 40, we
finally see the white hairs and begin to think
that my life is coming to an end.
It's better that we start our life in the very
beginning by remembering death rather than
preparing for it at the end our life when very
few of us have the energy to obey Allah
completely.