Day 5.3

Day 5.3

I slept till  11.40 which is a lot considering. Still quite tired, my body is tired, so this is the fatigue I haven't felt in a while. I used to feel this after a football match, I played for three different teams as a school boy.  I remember this now. I was a very active child,  we were always playing one sport or another. It's a fix in itself. To feel fatigue for me is to know your working your body. Pushing it to the limit. I'm just 5 days in or one sixth in and this us what im feeling physically. 

I am reasonably fit, but I know I can be much more.   Want to be at my peak level of fitness for a man of my age. It's invigorating. I'm blessed with health, I'm thankful for that, really really grateful in fact.  People with health problems are everywhere around us. I'm very lucky to be like this. To be able to fast, to be able to pray and feel the pain from the physical demands a two hour light but consistent work out does to a body that's on a restricted diet.

We really don't push ourselves enough. We exercise here as a leisure activity, we eat as a leisure activity, we work in comfort, with laws to protect us from exploitation and unreasonable working conditions. We've grown fat on comfort, security and a life of luxury.

What about people who even to this day, don't have any of that. Have to work the day in extreme conditions, heat and physical exhaustion, who are lucky to eat one meal a day let alone three, who sleep under road bridges and flyovers,  who eek out an existence scavenging through the detritus of the city. No parents to comfort them, nurture them, feed or cloth them...there children like this in India, South America, Africa, Asia. 

I know we as a nation give in charity so much. It makes me love this nation even more. We make a fun and pleasurable pastime to give to charity. Sometimes it's good to feel some of those feelings to be reminded of how lucky we actually are.  There are some ways of charity that will provide us with benefits beyond the grave.

"When a man passes away, his good deeds will also come to an end except for three: Sadaqah Jariyah (ceaseless charity); a knowledge which is beneficial, or a virtuous descendant who prays for him (for the deceased)" Narrated by Abu Hurairah, Sahih Muslim

https://ramadan.muslimaid.org/causes/sadaqah-jariyah/