IN SCHOOL

I used to go to a bright school,

Where Youth and Frolic taught in turn;

But idle scholar that I was,

I liked to play, I would not learn;

So the Great Teacher did ordain

That I should try the School of Pain.

One of the infant class I am

With little, easy lessons, set in a great book;

the higher class have harder ones than I,

and yet I find mine hard,

and can't restrain my tears

while studying thus with Pain.

There are two Teachers in the school,

One has a gentle voice and low,

and smiles upon her scholars,

as She softly passes to and fro.

Her name is Love; 'tis very plain

She shuns the sharper teacher, Pain.

Or so I sometimes think; and then,

At other times, they meet and kiss,

And look so strangely like,

that I am puzzled to tell how it is,

Or whence the change which makes it vain

To guess if it be-- Love or Pain.

They tell me if I study well,

And learn my lessons,

I shall be moved upward to that higher class

Where dear Love teaches constantly;

And I work hard, in hopes to gain reward,

and get away from Pain.

Yet Pain is sometimes kind,

and helps me on when I am very dull;

I thank him often in my heart;

But Love is far more beautiful;

Under her tender, gentle reign

I must learn faster than of Pain.

So I will do my very best,

Nor chide the clock, nor call it slow;

That when the Teacher calls me up

To see if I am fit to go,

I may to Love's high class attain,

When I was young, What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge was one of the books that I will read again and again before sleeping or just to kill the time. Little did I knew what the author tried to teach me, I did love the contents, especially the way she explained in details about how the Carr siblings and Cecy had their day in the Paradise. As I grow older, I finally understand what is the story all about. Others may look at it as a typical storybook for young children, but I don't see it that way. This is the reason why.

The main character, Katy Carr was a typical young girl who had big dreams; to save people from drowning, to paint or do sculptures, to be a nurse 'like Miss Nightingale'. Her mother died when she was young, and her father was a doctor who nevertheless a gentle and loving father although he was always busy taking care of his patients. She had a lot of siblings - Clover, Elsie, Dorry, Joanna and Phil and of course, their Aunt Izzie sure had a big time and patience in taking care of them! I admired her for her activeness, although there were times she got into a lot of trouble because of that; her passion with reading since I love to read as well, and her talent in writing.

So long story short, one day she fell down from a swing, which Aunt Izzie refrained everyone from using it that day due to a cracked staple drew out from the roof. She passed out and found herself lying down on a sofa in the living room, where Aunt Izzie and Clover comforted her. She tried to wake up but she couldn't, because of what Aunt Izzie said, "...you've given yourself a sprain somewhere..." - which actually turned out to be "...bruised the membrane inside, and the nerve inflamed, and gave a fever in the back...".

The most emotional part of the story for Katy was when her father told her that it would take a long time for her to recover (months and even more). She sobbed wildly when she heard this dreadful news and went through the days feeling pessimistic, thinking that she would never walked again. She lost interest in doing things she used to do, she pushed her loved ones away because she was too selfishly miserable to notice their kindness, and she would cry most of the time thinking about her sad plight.

My question is; if you were in her shoes, what would you do?

Applying her situation in our life, we too have our own dismal days. There are times where God will test us with situations that we do not expect, and sometimes we do not favour it at all. For example, as a student, I might get frustrated with my bad results when I know I study like crazy the night before the major. Imagine, you stay up all night to study and the results come out just so-so? Who doesn't get pissed off and complain about it right?

But remember this:

I do try to hold the principle where Allah will always give the best for me on whatever I do. Who knows right, when I do get an excellent result, I become boastful and not being thankful instead? There are sisters here in Kursk constantly reminding that no matter what results do I get, be thankful and say "Alhamdulillah for the test You've given to me" because Allah will always look on the efforts we put on something we do instead of the results.

Most of the time, I somehow feel ease after reflecting myself with this piece of advice. And I do remind myself, "there is always room for improvement".

This reminds me of One Litre of Tears. I cried hard while watching Aya lived her life after she was diagnosed with spinocerebellar degeneration - a rare disease where the cerebellum of the brain slowly degenerates until to the point where the patient cannot even talk, write, speak and walk. I cried harder when she showed her journals that she'd been writing to Haruto. First few journals was quite well written but soon after the writings had turned into scribbles, showing that she had a hard time on writing the words down due to her disease.

Honestly speaking, if I am diagnosed with some chronic disease or being tested with something that will jeopardize my health and routine life, I don't know how to cope with it since I've never faced such a problem before. Probably failing a class quiz is nothing compared to being diagnosed with diseases.

For this situation, I remembered one thing: if Allah keeps on testing you, be grateful and thankful because He does not forget you yet. He gives you a test because He wants you to know that He is your sole provider and wants you to constantly remember Him all the time. If you think Allah does not love you, remember the story of Prophet Ayub a.s where he was tested with poverty when he was the richest man and skin disease that even his wife left him alone? For seven years he was suffering, he never stopped praying to Allah to cure his disease. In the end, he was cured with Allah's permission.

See guys? Some people may leave us when we are in distress, but not Allah. He will always be there for us.

That is why, when we get differently from what we hope for, don't be sad or angry. Always believe that he knows what is the best for us.

When we are happy, turn to Allah.

When we are sad, turn to Allah.

When we are in need, turn to Allah.

When we remember Allah, Allah will remember us.

There will be ups and downs in life, but it is up to us whether to stand up and wipe our knees and keep moving on or to keep lying down on the road and stop trying.

:)

Oh I haven't finish the story on Katy Carr, right?

She did learn to pick up the pieces and started to live up with her temporary disabilities. She began to take interests in reading and writing again, and even started on learning French language during the autumn season. She was sick for quite a long time, but that did not stop her from being a loving sister and daughter to everyone. She saw every single of her siblings grew up as young men and women.

Well, the rest of the story is for you all out there to discover! :D I cannot keep on giving spoilers, it will not fun to read then *laughs*

By the way, the poem is one of my all time favourite, apart from Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken. It is a good and quick motivation pill when I need some comfort through reading.