Life is a canvas waiting for a unique brushstroke, a journey filled with twists, turns, and moments that define your resilience. Life is interesting. The person who was jumping in front of you and playing with you yesterday may not be around tomorrow. I didn't think about such things before, because I didn't want to, but life forces us to realize these concepts. On the ceaseless snowy day of December 18. 2023 our bustling preparation for my mother's birthday added an extra layer of anticipation to the atmosphere. We were all happy and having fun celebrating my mother's birthday with my family. Only my brother had not yet come and we were all eagerly waiting for my brother. Suddenly, the distressing news we received on that fateful day plunged us into a collective state of shock, transforming what was meant to be a joyous celebration into an unexpected period of mourning. I got a call from my brother's phone saying that my brother was brought to the hospital in a serious condition and there was a strong possibility of death. For me, that day was a massive blow and no comfort could ease it. Once a week before, this incident happened, my brother and I had a big fight. And even without knowing it, I looked at him and said:" It would be better if you were not in our lives, you were created only to harm us. I wish you would die sooner." Each utterance I directed towards him in a tone of reproach reverberated so loudly within the confines of my mind that I found myself grappling with the challenge of justifying and consoling my troubled conscience. Around 2 a.m. in the morning, my brother was taken to a major surgery. My parents and I begged God at night not to take my brother's life and return him to us. At that time, my mother's struggles weighed heavily on my heart. . All my mother's prayers to God were very touching, even my heart was broken. At that time, I truly came to believe in the profound difficulty of being a mother. Around 5a.m my brother left this world. Darkness enveloped my vision, leaving me uncertain about what steps to take or what the future holds. My mother's cry resounded so painfully throughout the hospital that no one didn't cry. My parents, even I couldn't say a word that day. I couldn't wish such intense pain, such profound loss, even upon my enemy. In the following days, I realized that simple tasks became arduous, and the weight of loss pressed heavily on my shoulders. Amid these dark times, I sought solace in memories of happy times spent with my brother. One day, I stumbled upon a box filled with mementos from our happiest days. Photographs are frozen in time, capturing smiles, silliness, and the essence of our unbreakable bond. Each picture told a story, a testament to the love and joy we shared. In solitude, I began to discover myself through these memories. I found strength in the love we had for each other and gradually the pain started to subside. While the ache of loss never completely faded, I learned to navigate the world without my brother physically by my side. I carried his spirit with me, finding comfort in the knowledge that the happy times we shared would forever be a part of me. After this incident, I made a conscious effort to treat everyone in my life with equal kindness, learning from my mistake with my brother. Recognizing the fragility of life, I began to invest more time in my family and express my love and appreciation more frequently. Discussing this matter and recalling the circumstances from that time is a challenging task for me. However, such is life. It presents us with numerous highs and lows and we should brace ourselves for each. In sharing this story, my sincere intention is for you to value your dear ones and express your love to them regularly, because, in the end, they might not be with you tomorrow.

On July 4th, who wouldn't be excited to celebrate festivities honoring our land of the free? A tumultuous day in Emerald Isle, North Carolina changed all that, ingraining a painful memory that cannot be erased, but is vital when one asks about an event that made you “stronger”. In other words, this day defined me in more ways than one, as well as opened my eyes to those around me and see that not all help is in the forms we think it to be. The sweltering heat made my mouth dry and my throat itch, but we continued to trek along the narrow, sandy pathway between the dunes to the beach. I would much rather be at the beach house with my mother, we would have been perfectly content sitting by the pool at the house, maybe reading and drinking a cool glass of lemonade. Wisps of loose hair from my ponytail began whipping my face in the seemingly increasing strength of the winds. Aunt Suzanne commented on how this weather is likely due to the approaching tropical storm expected in a few days. The waves, almost as if agreeing with her, concocted an exceptionally large wave that came crashing down on my cousins who attempted to ride it into the shore on their boogie boards. After attempting a short nap by covering my head in my towel, and getting mediocre results, I decided to ride some of the waves with a boogie board. I was the only cousin who hasn't gone out yet, and they have all just returned to eat and rest from the rough current that had depleted their energy. I went out by myself, but not too far, always staying in sight of the beach should the waves pick up their attack. The sun was beginning its descent beyond the horizon, showering small shadows every which way as the orange and red hues gave off a cozy light. I follow my cousins out as far as I could, but in comparison to the rest of them, I'm rather small. I went as far as my legs could go without lifting my feet from the bottom unless I had to leap over a wave. I saw a large wave coming, looking larger than the rest and decided maybe it was time to call it quits for the day. In my attempt to flee, I rode a wave in but failed. The wave and current took me down farther along the stretch of beach. I resurfaced, but then realized that more waves were coming…and I can't touch the ground. I kept pushing forward to the beach, but panic slowly started to seep in. Almost as if a switch had been turned on, the waves kept coming, but at a more powerful impact and the current was rougher than before, pulling me back into the depths of the ocean with newfound vigor. I called out for help, but everyone at our little beach camp was turned away in a deep conversation, as well as being too far away for my pleas to be heard. The beach I was on was practically deserted with no beachgoers, and no lifeguards either making it all the more dangerous. I still have the boogie board attached to my wrist and am desperately struggling against the treacherous current trying to make my way back to shore. My feet dig into the too-soft sand beneath me, to get some form of footing. After another wave crashes over me as soon as my head resurfaces, I realize the only way I'll get out of this is if I fight my way out of the current and back to the beach. The pain and fear inside me reside and are replaced by the distinct survival instinct in which everything else around me is tuned out until I am safely in knee-deep water. I don't stop though, because in my mind I could still be swept away if I give up at this moment, and so I carry on until I collapse at the edge of the water, visibly out of breath. When I come back breathing heavily, I explain as best as I can what happened. Much to my dismay, a shocking majority of my cousins and aunts move on quite quickly from the event. Maybe I expected them to be a bit more sympathetic, considering they almost lost me. I start crying after the whole event finally settles in my head, which in turn makes my mother get teary as well. She tells me that they only had their heads turned for a second, but so much happened in that time frame. We start on our way home and I turn around for one last look at the ocean for the day, seagulls soaring over the ocean waves as they crash against each other, creating a calm lullaby leading one to believe the waves aren't as dangerous as they seem. Who would have thought that the day we as a nation proclaimed our freedom, it could be taken away from me so suddenly? I learned the lesson that to find your inner strength, there are times when you can rely on those around you, but eventually, you will need to fight for yourself and that at times only you can be the one to save yourself. Sometimes I think that God may have had a part in my survival, halting the waves and current just for a moment to allow myself to flee. There isn't evidence or any way I can prove it, but that evening, my mind couldn't help but wonder if He did help me out, and if He did, I am forever grateful to God.

Psalm 72:5 They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations. 6 He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth. 7 In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. Now let's go to Rev. 6:12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; In Revelation, it sounds like God is punishing the world and the wicked for the evil. The day of God's wrath. But, it sounds as if the book of Psalms is speaking on the millennium. It sounds as if it is speaking of the messiah's days when his kingdom is fully established. When the righteous will flourish and prosper. What do you think it means when it talks about the sun and moon enduring? I think it means as long as time and the world shall last. Till the moon and the sun will be no more. I'm Gail Nobles, and thank you for listening to the InkPost. Hear the podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/user/8626366/sun-moon-endureth-5-7-22-9-12-pm

You never know what will come tomorrow: new difficulties or a new victory This story of a new life began in early spring, when a carefree medical student working part-time as a nurse heard about the quarantine measures. For someone the pandemic turned out to be a strong blow to health, for someone to finances, but for me personally, the pandemic turned out to be a «second wind». Every reader will ask how it turned out to be a «second wind». Everything is initially simple - I changed my life, which I dreamed for so long. Let me introduce myself, I'm Farhod Kholikov, I'm from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, I am a 4th year student at the Tashkent Pediatric Medical Institute and this is my story about the role of the pandemic in my life. Let's get started Reading. To be honest, during of my boring life I've read about 7-8 books, not including in this list the literature that each of us reads at school (Pushkin, Gogol, Bulgakov, Shakespeare, Exupery, Hugo, etc.). I was not particularly distinguished by my love of books, because I was one of those people who write myself. While still in school, I wrote poetry and wrote stories. But the pandemic has drastically changed my "dislike". Leafing through the pages of social networks on the Internet, I came across an amazing dystopian novel by G. Orwell "1984". I was so carried away by reading this novel and amazed by it. I began to search the Internet for other similar novels. The next was A. Burgess's «Clockwork Orange». These two novels made me think about being, human essence, the mistakes of consciousness and worldview. Then I started on Fitzgerald's «The Great Gatsby», the denouement touched my heart and I could not hold back tears. Reading led me to the second stage Social network. After several novels, I began to write notes for myself in the form of reasoning about the world, about the value of life. My girlfriend accidentally read my notes and insisted that I open a channel in Telegram (a social network like WhatsApp in the CIS) and publish my notes there. At first, I was against, "who wants to read my mind?". She convinced me. I started writing, looking for interesting facts, videos, pictures and music from the Internet and publish them on my channel. People liked my publications. I noticed the strangeness - people began to share my posts, and they scattered very quickly, but few people subscribed to me. I was not discouraged, and began to spread even more. Now I have 36 subscribers, but views of my posts range from 200 to 500 people. For me it is a victory Sport. Even in the 1st year of my studies at a medical university, I had a desire to start going out to run in the morning, but every day I put off until tomorrow, Monday or the next month. It has continued until the pandemic (4 years). Quarantine measures were strengthened in the spring, people were forbidden to go out. At the same time, I was reading The Great Gatsby. In the end, there was Gatsby's daily routine, where I saw the Sport item. Soon at the end of spring, the quarantine was lifted. Without hesitation, I bought a bike via the Internet and started my morning exercises on May 27. I got up early, prayed and went outside with my new bike at 4:30 a.m. It was dark, but nothing could stop me. The first 500 meters were the most exciting. I finally got down to something that I had dreamed about for a very long time, and there were thoughts in my head: “How long will I drive on the first day? When will I be exhausted?" I set a goal to get to my institute, which was located 3.5 kilometers from my house. On the first day, I did not reach it. But this failure gave me motivation to achieve results on the second day. I still go out early in the morning, and in addition to cycling, I started to do pull-ups on the horizontal bar (now 20 times) Religion. The last and very important victory for me is my faith, worldview and understanding of the values of life. The book - the Quran (consist of 114 suras), also led me to this. I am a Muslim, and for us the most important source of knowledge is the Qur'an, where the orders, rules and goals in the life of every believer are sent down. My favorite point in religion is learning. God loves those who do not stop in development, who improve every day, who get to know this world and science. As a child, my grandmother taught me 5 suras. Now, thanks to the pandemic, I learned 10 more. The suras are written in Arabic, which in turn gave me an incentive to learn a new language. I have not yet started this, now I am studying Spanish. I want to travel the world. Spanish will help me to visit South America, Europe and get to know this world better, learn the culture and traditions of different nationalities The pandemic played a great role in my life, thanks to which I shaken off the dust and started growing. Now I have a goal - to receive the Nobel Prize in the field of medicine, and I will go to it. I know that the path of life is full of difficulties, and I will come to my goal

Is Covid-19 A Retribution From On High? For believers in a ‘Higher Power' of whatever hue, there must be times when one wonders if that heavenly body ever loses patience with what goes on below. Just imagine that said entity, after creating a magical gift like the planet Earth, balking at the mere sight of the inflicted destruction created by the modern-day human rulers. So picture if you will, the Earth designed to be the epitome of perfection, with deep blue oceans, filled with cleansing marine life, corals and fauna. The lush green pastures and forests, a veritable playground for animals of every kind to frolic and multiply in. And a sky, lovingly painted in an infinite pastille of blue. The Sun, positioned to cascade the world with daytime light. Its health giving rays a source of energy, vitamins and radiation to promotion the essential growth to Earths plant life. Then to offer a twist of gaiety, brightly coloured birds added to soar free upon the thermals singing and chirping their own sweet song. Insects of all shapes and sizes, also taking their pleasure by cleaning and preening the land, whilst employed by ‘Mother Nature' as her little postmen of pollen to fertilize the eagerly awaiting flowers. Finally, to the world came man and woman in human form. By purpose they were first made humble, introduced as merely another species on this vast orb of paradise. But human's had not been created as equals, far from it. They were enhanced in their powers, by featuring highly dexterous hands and a powerful brain, capable of ever wider thought and development. The human, by design, was destined to evolve, blossom, and ultimately achieve mastery over the planet. Indeed blossom they did over countless centuries. Through trial and error and with the use of ingenuity, human's conquered the arts of cultivation, husbandry and propagation. This set them apart from other species, now they could not only create food, but store it for when needed. Thus humans could concentrate their powerful minds on an ever wider scale. Yet over time the human thrust for world improvement began to lose its way. Progress became twisted into the pursuit of false gods called money and power. The simple basics of life as initially created for beauty, necessity or utility, were becoming abused in the pursuit of profit. The true purpose of evolution becoming corrupted by neglect, or as mere collateral damage of mans short term objectives. So by now, the believers in the ‘Heavenly Body', should not be criticized for wondering if some of the worlds disasters of nature, weren't in some form an early warning of displeasure as cast down from on high? The words: “Don't push your luck too far humans!” Coming to mind. But such actions in the past were predominantly a regional issue, whereas now the life threatening pollution and abuse circumvents the world. Those original blue oceans are now awash with detritus. The lush green pastures and forests, plundered for minerals, or stripped bare to return ever greater profits for ‘The Man'. Originally human leaders were men of vision who nurtured the land whilst thanking it for its blessings. Such men of wisdom have now sadly gone, and in their place sit closed minded men of money, thirsty for power and addicted to wealth. Some notably worthless caretakers, through lack of intellect, or simply devoid of interest, actually lay sermons to the beauty of power and wealth. With heads held high and puffed out chests, they espouse how the ultimate value of the world is calculated in the monetary depiction of a long line of zero's on a computer screen. So with all things considered, who would blame the ‘Higher Power' looking down on such worthless views to take some action? How can such men of power, deaf, dumb and blind to reason, be made to see that they are dragging the world down the wrong path? Subtle warnings of the past have come and gone without effect, Mother Nature has displayed her power in many forms of recent years, but no change of direction appears forthcoming. Has the time eventually come when a ‘Final Warning' from on high is due? I for one can almost hear the words from the heavens… “Send in the Covid-19!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZypKfRKGRLk

Enjoy the Book and Nourrish your Soul.

The beaut they say about the human race is that it's a spur to our highest achievement and an incentive to our worst nightmare, hence it's been sod's law since primordial time that with great advancement comes great chaos, as time begets time and humanity evolved in attitude, character and invention so came the birth of all global social Ill, war, terrorism, kidnapping, ritualism, human sacrifice e.t.c. To these I'll add religion the most vitiating of all global Ill. This is indeed a mystery, man's greatest dilemma, religion! Man's greatest creation, creates the same thing that is extinguishing the human race. The fact is iron clad that religion is the crux of all known ill, in fact the totality of all known global social Ill is embedded in religion, people commit murder in the name of religion, engage in terrorism, kidnapping, human sacrifice e.t.c you just name them. Do not get me wrong, there's absolutely nothing wrong in believing in God but believing in a religion is the problem, let's not be sentimental here, look around you, if you've perhaps not felt religious BANE before search the Internet, you'll notice that the worst atrocities in human history have been in the name of religion, this is not just a speculation, it's a fact with historical proof and I'll show you. In 1300 for instance, the Aztecs began there elaborate theocracy and brought human sacrifice to golden Era, about 2000 people were killed yearly to appease gods especially the sun god who needed daily nourishment of blood. Heart of sacrificed victims were cut out and some bodies were eaten ceremoniously. Other victim were drowned, beheaded, burned or dropped from height. In a rite to the rain god, shrieking children were killed at several site so that their tears might induce rainfall. In a rite to the maize goddess, a virgin danced naked for 24hours,then killed and skinned. Her skin was worn by a priest in further dancing. One account says at King Ahuitzot's coronation, 80,000 prisoner were butchered to appease the gods. In the year 1400,the Catholic Church shifted it's focus to witchcraft. Priest tortured untold number of women into confessing that they were witches who flew through the sky and engaged in six with the devil. They were then burned or hanged in public after accepting due to the unbearable torture. Witch hysteria ranged for three century in dozen nations. Estimate of the number executed vary from 100,000 to 2 million. The witch craze was religious madness at its worst. Islamic religion law decree that thieves shall have their hand or feet chopped off and unmarried lovers shall be killed. In Sudan, in 1983,66 thieves where axed in public. A moderate Muslim leader Mahmoud Mohammed Taha was hanged for heresy in 1984 because he opposed the amputation. In Saudi Arabia, a teen aged princess and her lover were executed in public in 1977. In Pakistan in 1987,a 25 Year old carpenter's daughter was sentenced to be stoned to death for engaging in an unmarried sex. In the United Arab Emirates in 1984,a cook and a maid were both sentenced to stoning for adultery. In Indian, member of the thugee sect strangled people as sacrifice to appease the blood thirsty goddess Khali. The number of victim has been estimated to be as high as 2 million. Thugee were claiming about 20,000 lives in a year. The Maryam theocracy in the 11th and 18th century drowned about 200 virgin each year to appease the feathered serpent god. In 1200,incas built their empire in Peru, at major ceremonies, it was recorded that about 200 babies were burned as offering, special chosen women about 500 were strangled. In 1994,Di mambo, a founder of a religious cult called "order of the solar temple" ordered the murder of a child with a wooden knife, he claimed the child was the anti Christ. He also ordered the mass suicide of 300 members. Now this are just few among many, there are countless atrocities committed in the name of religion even far beyond the edges of this writing. Religion stretches beyond just atrocities, it's been recorded among others with the highest death rate, for example: The Taiping war:80,000,000 death The crusade:6,000,000 Thirty years war:11,500,000 Muslim conquest of indian:80,000,000 Congolese genocide:13,000,000 Eight year war:1,000,000 Rwanda Genocide :1,500,000 The Holocaust:6,500,000. Recent time haven't changed a bit as with old time, today scorches by religion are yet unimaginable, devastating and damaging. It has caused the world a great deal and it's still causing it. The Bokoharam terrorist group in North Nigeria, the violent activities of ISIS, the Afghanistan conflict, Pakistan conflict, Sudan conflict, Arab hostility on christain are incidence attesting to this fact.

What if I start telling you a story about a family that had not laughed for two generations? Do you imagine them living in a place as bleak and gloomy as if from the pages of King's books? The father of the family is a good Catholic who eats no meat on Fridays and marries enamoured couples on rare Sundays beneath a silver moon. His wife is a woman of honesty and reputation who eats bananas with fork and knife each morning and does her best to grow the plum-shaped tomatoes in the garden. Don't be funny! Jokes are such nonsense! Just a flow of words that makes senseless noise. A joke is a mere uproar of rushing water, confessing once again to being simply a tribute to our ego, an exercise of ignorance and overstatement in a constant run for attention. What I am looking for, though, is not attention, but the best beginning of the perfect joke. What should it be about? A married couple doing household chores and monkeying around? God's twitter account? A guy who walks into a bar? The images that could be listed in this connection are legion. I like good jokes: jokes that puzzle you to brain numbness; jokes that bring blush on your cheeks with coarse allusions; spontaneous, impromptu expressions that make everyone laugh, and unique wordplays that so often lose their beauty in translation. Hardly will you be lucky enough to meet a serious office worker in a well-tailored black suit with an umbrella heading for a 6.30 train wearing different socks. What is even less possible, is that this seemingly mundane story through a fine art of narrating will be made into a joke about many bodies being crammed like sardines on the way to work. Jokes and laughter return us to the springtime of our lives, the very nature of them lying deeper than I could ever imagine. Now, in my adulthood, I think of my father more often – a good Catholic who loved his simple wife, whose biggest ambition and pride was her small and cozy garden. Now I clearly see things that were invisible to me before: a real-life hell of poverty, injustice and hard life is out there, and there is another hell we are told about by the church doctrine. The perception of humour as a gateway and release from the former and as a means to make good friends in the latter fascinates me. The privileges people have in low life are so few, and necessity has no pity whatsoever for the poor. In my story, humour and life's drama are mingled together so closely! You have never imagined God as a funny man, right? In the wake of current proneness to atheism, you are probably right in believing in his non-existence. I, in my turn, know by heart from my father how the opening chapter goes: In the beginning was a Word, and the Word was with God. This Word of his was not just one. It was muttering under his nose, sighing, laughing loudly – he was looking for the perfect beginning, the same way I am now. Forget about the story I told in the beginning, as there is no man in the world who never laughed. What I take great pride in is that I can, and definitely will, pass on to the future generations the jokes my father used to tell so often. I now find it the right time to share the one I like most; it goes as follows: How do you make holy water? – Boil the hell out of it! I am fully confident now that all that is kind in the world, as well as true friendship and good intentions, starts exactly with this simplicity. Boil the hell out of everything and joke!

If someone asked me to define myself, one of the first things I would bring up is that I'm a very religious person. My family grew up teaching me and my sister the Arabic alphabet, and then teaching us how to read the Quran fluently. I pray 5 times a day, attend programs at my mosque, and used to go to Sunday School to learn about things crucial in order for me to pray correctly. Additionally, I wear my religious headpiece, my hijab, everywhere out in public. To say the least, it's become a very normal and needed part of my life, and just another aspect in order for me to outwardly express myself to my peers and quite literally anyone else's eye I catch. The first day I saw my cousin wear her hijab to school in seventh grade, I felt knots in my stomach. In short, it made me nervous to acknowledge she was my family, and to even look at her. After a while, I bet you could imagine exactly how I felt when my sister asked my mom if we could wear our hijabs to school. After approval from her, and from my principal (after discussing what color they should be to fit our uniform) my sister was 100% ready to put it on, and ready to head to school. The first day she showed up wearing her black and (slightly) sequined hijab, people stared. It gave me butterflies in my stomach, made me so afraid that someone would have something to say. Every single day following that, my mom, my sister, my friends, and even some of my family asked: Aren't you going to wear yours? Embarrassingly enough, I couldn't work up the courage to wear my matching sequined black hijab until 3 days later. I told myself, “It's okay if people ask questions! It's okay if they stare!”, but I was undeniably very, very nervous. Imagine the sight of us, two Muslim girls with matching hijabs walking together into school. All eyes were on us, even when I got inside the cafeteria, and took a seat for breakfast. “Are you allowed to wear that? Are you a Nun? What is that on your head?” I felt so afraid, so nervous, that I simply couldn't bring myself to answer their questions and said that I would just tell them later. That day, I remember, it was windy when I was out in morning formation (which is what we do at my military based school). I kept silently willing my hijab in my brain to “Stop moving with the wind!! Stop blowing in my face!”. That whole day, I cowered in fear when people looked at me longer than they needed to, or when they asked about my hijab. I was afraid. But why? Now, after wearing my hijab at school and out in public for around 3 to 4 years, I look upon my past actions with shame. Why was I so afraid? Whenever someone asks about my hijab now, I smile. I tell them how to pronounce it, say yes, I am a Muslim, and that I have almost 2 whole drawers full of multi-colored hijabs! People tell me I look lovely (and I agree), and they're curious about why I wear it, what made me want to wear it, and more. It makes me so much stronger, as I can openly tell people from one look that yes, I feel very strongly enough about my religion enough to wear my hijab out in public, everywhere. In fact, I can quite proudly say that I act the complete flip side now if people are curious. There was even one instance where I was grocery shopping with my family, and a man came up to me and my sister and said, “I have something to say to you… You two look so pretty with your hijabs on!”. At first, I was thinking that the man was going to say something that could potentially cause a debate in the middle of a store, and I was ready to defend myself, but this was a complete surprise that warmed my heart. Also, it's been a source for me to make friends with people! Teachers and adults ask me what my hijab means to me, what it means in my religion, and even go on to ask where I'm from. Also, my hijab tells people that I am Muslim, so whenever I see any Muslim out in public or school, we give each other a smile and greet each other with, “Assalamualaikum!”. Yes, I can say that my initial reaction to wearing my religious headpiece was fear and anxiety. However, I can now also say that I see it as such a positive and strong part of myself, that I feel very naked and lost without it. So, this is why I believe many people can also change their viewpoints on my hijab and about my religion as a whole. Although it was difficult to change my own views about my religion, I wholeheartedly believe others can as well. My story isn't one full of fear or danger as others are, but I still want to get my message across. Do you, yourself, think you can change?