Open Question: Please read my short story?
this is part of an 18-page story I’ve written, but the rest is kind of in progress. I’m 13. Comments? Any ideas to continue it? Thnx.
It was 1:30 in the morning on a wintry Colorado night. All around the state, people slept underneath thick blankets, safe from the avalanche of snow covering the land like a shroud. All except for a cluster of people huddled together under an overpass not far out of downtown Denver. Among these people was a teenager named Sasha Wett. She was pressed in between her mother, Mrs. Wett, and her older brother, Jerry. The three of them shared a tattered blanket, too skimpy to sufficiently provide warmth for the family. Sasha?s worn shoes poked out from the end of the tiny sheet.
Mrs. Wett blinked snow off her eyelashes and wrapped her arms around both of her children. Sasha was so close to her that she could hear her teeth chattering through her blue lips.
Around Sasha, people slept. Most snored, but some were quiet. Sasha wondered how they could ever sleep in the icy conditions. She knew that she wasn?t able even to close her eyes, for fear of not waking up.
Beside her, Jerry sighed and shivered. Sasha had a sudden flashback of when she was seven. She was gazing out the window down into the dark alley adjacent to the family?s apartment building. There were voices, male, shouting insults and profanities so vulgar that Sasha could only guess their meanings. The voices suddenly grew quiet, and all she could hear were short grunts and occasional yelps of pain. Sasha knew enough to understand that the argument had morphed into a full-out brawl. She turned away from the window, squeezing her eyes shut, trying not to listen. Without realizing it, Sasha was crying, weeping violently, uncontrollably.
?Stop?stop?? she murmured between sobs, placing her hands over her ears. Then it was over, and she could hear nothing from the alley other than the swish, swish of the winner?s pants as he fled the scene of the fight.
The image in her mind switched to one of her parents the day she and Jerry had been informed of the family?s state of financial ruin. At the time, Sasha was eleven years old, and her brother was fourteen. She remembered peeking around a corner into the kitchen, where Mrs. Wett had her head in her hands, leaning against the counter on her elbows. Her shoulders shook as she cried silently. Mr. Wett had his hand on her shoulder. His face, pallid due to the terminal illness (idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis-a disease of the lungs) he had contracted, was grave and stricken. Jerry walked up behind her, and after watching for a while, they exchanged cautious glances and walked into the room together.
Mr. Wett looked at them and sighed despairingly. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but closed it quickly. Mrs. Wett, tears still streaking down her face and slowly dripping off her chin, caught sight of them and hurried to embrace them. After a long hug, she pulled back to look them in the face.
?Children,? she began, voice wavering, ?We have bad news.? She bit her lip and paused. Mr. Wett took over.
?We can?t afford to stay in an apartment anymore. Not for a while.? Sasha?s heart dropped into her stomach, and she experienced a sensation similar to that of sinking in quicksand.
?No.? Jerry whispered brokenly. ?That?s?not possible??
?We?ll be okay, we?ll be okay. I promise it?ll be all right. We?ll get better jobs, move into another apartment, and start over. We?re not giving up, kids. We?ll never give up.? Mrs. Wett again, making empty promises. Her words sounded far away to Sasha. Everything seemed to move slower than molasses. Tears blurred her vision.
The next day the family packed their few possessions into backpacks and left, never to lay eyes on the apartment again.
Just weeks later, Mr. Wett took a turn for the worse. He passed away soon afterward.
Sasha tasted salt on her lips. Tears. Looking to her right, she spotted a teardrop rolling from Jerry?s eye; he was crying, too. They hugged each other, sobbing, holding each other as if letting go would cause them both to shatter into thousands of tiny, irreparable pieces.
* * *
Sasha watched the sun rise in the east, casting golden rays of light upon the weary group of homeless men and women. She hadn?t gotten a wink of sleep, and was exhausted from a night of tossing and turning on the cold, hard cement. Jerry and Mrs. Wett were up and about, waking the others from their fitful sleeps.
Sasha watched the members of the group moving swiftly and serenely, folding ragged blankets, eating their meager breakfast rations. The group was a rare animal, a community of the destitute, a society of drifters, a silent army of people whose dismal pasts went untold among their comrades. It was an unspoken agreement; no one wished to share dark memories, only to hope for a brighter future. However, despite each person?s unidentified history lurking behind their reason for joining the unlikely congregation of the unfor
it cut off…sorry:
unfortunate, everyone shared a common circumstance: living in a waking nightmare.
Jerry surprised Sasha by tapping her shoulder lightly. ?Time to move, Sasha. The early bird catches the worm.? Sasha tried to smile, but grimaced instead.
?Jerry?? She asked softly, ?What if one of us dies-you, Mother, or I? I couldn?t stand another death… I couldn?t bear it.? Sasha looked up into his troubled face and saw more than pain in his bright blue eyes.
?None of us will die, Sasha,? He said, taking her by the shoulders and facing her directly. ?You have to believe that. We?re strong. We?ve been through enough. Things will start looking up. Do you hear me??

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 20:17:58 GMT
Open Question: Who Are You brother/sister……………..?…..?
A young man looks at himself in the mirror and he asks himself: Why am I here? Why do I do the things I do? What’s my purpose? Another young man looks at himself in the mirror and he tells himself I know why I am here, I know why I do the things I do and I have a purpose in life.
He smiles to himself and feels satisfaction in his heart as he thinks of his lord, ALLAH (GOD). The first young man stares at his seemingly happy face but his heart aches. His heart fills with a dull pain and he is left to wander aimlessly after true happiness. The vital difference between the confidence and happiness of the second young man and the lack there of in the first young man is ISLAM.
Islam is a religion that teaches one to give up their desires and to fulfill the desires of their lord Allah (Praise be to him). People are not truly free until they break free from the chains of inner passions and surrender to the will of Allah. As a Muslim one’s ultimate goal is to please Allah. Thus, a Muslim becomes a fighter and survivor in this world full of temptations and evil.
One must fight and break away from the voice of Satan urging to fall into the traps of evil. This battle against evil does not go unseen. For at the end Allah promises the ultimate prize and glory. This prize is entrance into the doors of paradise. It is this knowledge that drives a Muslim closer to his lord and keeps him away from evil. His heart is filled with happiness as he seeks ways to get closer to the paradise promised him.
A Muslim has a goal, a destination, and a path to follow. He will never be lost as he looks towards Allah and his message. A disbeliever does not have any of these things. He has no one to guide him; he has no destination, no path. He is lost. Yet, he cannot give up on his mission to find happiness. He searches and is filled with answers like, enjoy life while it lasts, don’t worry be happy, and follow your dreams.
In the quest for answers these prove to be unsuccessful and lead down a winding path of turmoil. Without any strong hold on one’s desires a disbeliever defies all limits to enjoyment in life, and is bombarded with problems. Problems he tries to solve by forgetting about them. He tries to forget with drugs, alcohol, and drowning himself in a life filled with ecstasy and pleasure. In Islam, enjoyment in life is a blessing from Allah. However, it is not a driving force in life.
Enjoyment is allowed within the realms of Islam. Allah protects his creation and he cuts harmful things at their roots. An excellent example is drinking. A mother holds the dead body of her three-year-old son as she cries out in pain Why? Why? to the drunk driver who barreled into their car. Another innocent life taken away by drunk driving, and added to the thousands killed each year.
Drinking is the cause of many social problems that plague our society. Islam has not only forbidden drinking, but it also forbids people from buying, selling and transporting any alcoholic related beverages. By having such a full approach against this problem Islam prevents victimization of innocent people, death by liver disease and break up of families. So many lives are shattered as men come home drunk, brutally hit their wives and children, and in the morning cannot remember a thing.
No law mandated against drunk driving or battery can stop these tragedies. The highest authority, Allah, deals with it by making it forbidden and thus preventing any of these things from occurring. He provides an incentive to obey him (paradise the ultimate reward and his pleasure) and a mechanism to make it easy for his creation to follow his commandments (such as the five daily prayers and fasting). Allah, through the Holy Quran, guides Muslims to remain on the straight path, the path that will attain happiness in this world and the next. This straight path can be found in the guide for all of mankind, the Holy Quran.
The Quran is the manual for life. It gives one a focus and a destination. Every single aspect of this life is covered in the Quran. As a follower of Allah’s words one can never fail. The Quran tells of relationships with parents, rights of a wife, rights of orphans, etc. Allah gave mankind this manual and he blessed us with the final Messenger as the most beautiful examples for all of humanity to follow. Islam is the solution. Without this solution a disbeliever will forever look in the mirror and his head will fill with hundreds of unanswered questions. The boundary between right and wrong will become a blur to him. He w ill forever be lost, like he is, now in this evil illusion inspired by temptations and desires. The problems of the world will always entangle him until he submits to Allah, the one God who has created him.
References:
(The Nightmare of Disbelife)
http://fs.harunyahya.net/popup/Download.php?WorkNumber=256&Format=pdf
(A BRIEF ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING ISLAM)
http://www.islam-guide.com/islam-gu

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 20:29:36 GMT

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