Sunday 4 March 2007

My Last Blog Entry


As the saying goes, “All good things must come to an end.” I’ve been blogging for almost a year now, and I’ve really enjoyed it, but I am now a fully fledged AUC graduate, and I guess “My life @ AUC” doesn’t really apply to me anymore.

I know I haven’t really elaborated on my graduation ceremony, but suffice to say it is something that has to be experienced and cannot be described. All I can tell you is that my speech was a smashing success, el hamdulela (thank god), and that speaking in front of 1,600 people was one of the most liberating experiences of my life.

I’ve poured a lot of my life out on these pages in the past year, my ups and downs, my successes and failures, and it’s difficult to think of how to wrap it up. Leave you with a funny joke? A meaningful thought? Or just ramble on as I am sometimes prone to do? I have no idea if there’s actually anyone who has read all the way through my blog, and if there is then who they are and what they think of it. In either case, there’s no denying that I have enjoyed writing here.

Life is strange sometimes. The paths you can take are numerous and the choices can sometimes seem overwhelming. Every experience in your life changes you in some way, and every time you take a decision, you have to think to yourself “Why am I doing this? What will I get out of it?”

I just came back last week from a conference in Turkey on religion and politics. I got involved in a number of heated debates, some of them seriously thought-provoking and the kind that press all the wrong buttons (or right ones, depending on your point of view).

I came out of it a little clearer on some things, and slightly fuzzier on others. But one thing I came out of was that I need to work on myself. I need to learn more, see more, experience more. And I have vowed to do so.

I don’t know where I’m going to be in five years, but somehow, that’s ok. I know the best job candidate is the one who knows where s/he’ll be in the future and has it all mapped out but I disagree. I believe that as long as I have a purpose for what I’m doing, then I’m on the right path. Right now I’m working in a job I would only have dreamed about last year, and I’m happy. It’s not what I was planning but I’m not disappointed, for this is where my path has led me. It could take me somewhere completely different in a couple of months, but for now, I’m satisfied.

Al Salam Alaykum wa rahmatu Allah wa barakatu
Ethar