In his fortnightly column, Wael Al Sayegh stresses on the need to act now, tomorrow might be too late, he says.

Soul-satisfying opportunities may not occur often. Grab them when they come by, says Wael Al Sayegh

My kids came back from school one day as I was busy in my office doing important strategic planning for my SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) business. I heard the garage door slide open and the front door key turn as I continued to work. Their school bags dropping to the ground was the last sound I heard before they opened the office door.

“Dad, can we go for a bike ride around the block?” the three of them excitedly asked.

“I can’t right now guys, I’m working, next week, inshallah, ok?”

Their heads lowered despondently and they replied “ok” and left the room. I tried to get back to work but could not. I couldn’t shake off the sad look in their eyes. No matter how hard I tried,

I just could not forget it. Because, I had forgotten that my kids are all under ten and that what is a 30-minute cycling trip around the block for me is an Alice in Wonderland adventure to them. I forgot that to agree to their request to have me join them on this great adventure would be forever etched on their minds as a positive bonding experience, which, who knows, might not occur again. Their invitation was a moment, an opportunity that once passed, was gone forever. I forgot all that. That is the truth. This got me wondering, what else do I and those around me forget?

The Greek word for truth is Alethia, which translates as “not to forget”. How deep into Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, are we as a society in our region of the world? We forget that Dubai and the UAE are less than 50 years old in their modern incarnation, and that everything we see around us from skyscrapers, hyperloops, zero carbon cities, and those things we don’t see physically, such as plans to put the first man on Mars, are all the results of an unlikely success story rooted in wise leadership that is an inspiration not only to us in the region, but to the entire world.

We have forgotten how safe our country is. We have forgotten that if we get our 4x4 stuck in the desert or when we get a flat tyre on the highway someone is more than likely going to help us out for no charge, and not just drive by leaving us stranded.

We have forgotten that maids, drivers and domestic help are not the norm and that they are humans who have risked a great deal and left their loved ones behind to work long hours, sometimes with no weekends, just to be able to feed their families back home.

We have forgotten our neighbours. The walls between us have grown higher and higher, so much that we don’t even know each other’s names let alone the struggles each might be going through which we could perhaps help out with. It pains me to think that we might even have forgotten our parents and how they now need us, despite what they may say, to care for them just as they once cared for us.

We have forgotten the sacredness of our physical bodies. When we eat junk, the sugar and additives disconnect us from the very vehicle we live in. When we need to sleep late because we haven’t given ourselves enough time to fully recover from the strains of life, we are choosing to forget this brilliantly designed mechanism, this magnificent work of art.

Ultimately, many of us have even forgotten our true selves, our unique dreams and our original purpose. We choose to live lives counter to what and who we naturally are, for the sake of security, income and social expectations.

Let’s all wake up and remember the many blessings and opportunities we have in front of us right now – and I do mean now. Pick up the phone and call your parents, ask if they need anything. Knock on the door of your neighbours and bring them a gift of some sort. The things that create memories are the things we can get done now, immediately, not the things we might do later, in the future. Regardless of whether your motivation is words from the Quran during Ramadan, Greek mythology or Michael Jackson’s Do You Remember the Time?, let’s wake up to our individual truth.

Which reminds me... “Kids!”

“Yes Dad?”

“Get your helmets on, we’re going for a bike ride!”