Infinite Ink

"The girl, with the purest heart"

I had my graduation ceremony earlier this month. In the whirlwind of photographs and smiles and caps being thrown in the air, there were a lot of emotions mixed in. After we came home from the ceremony, some people went out to dinner with their families, others got gifts from their families, and people like me, with neither gift nor dinner (not that I'm complaining--just pointing it out--I got my O Levels gift two years after my 7A's, and that was back when there were no A stars in the grading system), anyway, people like me logged in to Facebook and put up graduation status updates. I put up the first "life event" on my account (apart from my birth), so that was a big occasion for me. Then, scrolling through the photos and statuses as they started to trickle in (they would pour in later, once people were back from their dinners [you can tell I'm still angling for a graduation dinner *hint* *hint*]), I came across a photo I was tagged in. It was me with one of my classmates. Me in my full niqabi glory. A plain black one, too. (I still haven't graduated to coloured ones. Hmm. I'll have to see about that.)

The photo was captioned, "The girl, with the purest heart".

It hit me like an arrow. I felt flattered for an instant, then I immediately thought of my true inner state, and I felt ashamed. I didn't know the supplication by heart in Arabic, so I murmured in Urdu, "O Allah, make me as good as they think I am."

That caption stayed in my mind. It set up a room, decorated the walls and laid out a bed to sleep in, complete with a nightstand and a night light. Like they say, one kind word can warm three winter months. That was one remark that will colour my life silver and gold.

It's not like calling me a girl with purest heart automatically makes my heart pure. It's just that it gives me confidence that one day I can achieve a pure heart, with the grace of Allah. When people believe in you, they give you positive vibes that carry you a long way. It helps to be given a compliment by someone who knows you.

What am I going to do about it? I am going to pass it on. I haven't figured out how. But maybe, a few hundred thousand compliments into it, I'll have returned about a fraction of the kindness my friend showed me the day she captioned that photo. Because kindness gives light to people's lives. It really is as simple as that.