Friday, April 8, 2011

drive-thru

Saya suka drive-thru. Okay, mungkin kawan saya, Dayah won’t agree with me since she’s in charge of the drive-thru department in HSNZ and that sure as heck is a lot of work, but well, I’m not talking about that drive-thru. I’m not talking about the ATM drive-thru or pizza drive-thru or kfc drive-thru, either, because they don’t have those here in Terengganu. I’m talking about the McD drive-thru. Heh, I can actually picture my other friend, Melissa grinning from ear to ear at the mention of that (McD is her only saving grace here in Terengganu, ngee...). :)
So, anyway, saya pergi McD drive-thru pada suatu petang yang hening selepas balik kerja. As I was waiting in line to get to the ordering kiosk, something hit me. The flow of the drive-thru. Let’s imagine it together...
First, you get to order. And you’re given a whole lot of menus to choose from.
Then, you have to pay. Next, you get what you want. What you ordered.
Finally, you move on to the junction of the road, whether it be the right or the left. Or in a few occasion, straight to hit the gate of Giant. Huh? Never mind that. Hehe.
That, that flow, (minus the Giant part) is a lot like Life.
Yes, everything is fated. Yes, everything is written way before we were even born. Yes, at the end of the day, we have only that one destination to head to. But, one wise person said in her book that and I quote, ‘everything is fated, only interchanged by God’s will, effort and doa’ (refer Versus, Hlovate). It’s true.
That God’s will depend on us. Tuhan takkan tolong hamba-Nya yang tak nak tolong diri dia sendiri. Which brings us to the first step of ‘driving-thru’ life.
First, ordering or making the choices. Let’s face it, as we live, it’s all about making choices. We’re paraded with a whole lot of choices, more than three boards of burgers can ever provide, and it’s up to us to choose. The good or the bad. The best or the worst. Choosing that depends on how far we believe God will help us. How many of our prayers will He answer? What should we do to make Him help us? What should we do so that He wants to help us? Over and over and over? It depends on the effort, the doa. The choice we finally make, the significant of each and every single one of it, will depend heavily on our effort, our prayers. And if He decides He wants to help us, He will hint the best choice deep in our hearts, insya Allah.
Then, we have to pay. Whatever choice we make, we will have to pay before we get to see the outcome. Paying is striving. We put out all that we have (in the case of McD, all that I had in my wallet that day, heh!) into it. Into what we want. It can be a struggle, sometimes or most of the time. And we may wonder whether we made the right choice. If God had helped us, we will be confident it is the right choice. If He hadn’t, there must be something lacking in our process of choosing earlier. So, we might have to go back. But notice that the drive-thru flow is a one-way street... Oh... no... we just have to plunge on.
Next, we get what we ordered. What we chose. Whatever we feel about the choices we’ve made, whatever we have to pay, we have to deal with it. Go ahead and take the outcome. Swallow it. Walau tak sedap macam mana pun, it’s already done. We’ve chosen, we’ve paid. A lot of efforts have been poured into it. So we just have to take it as it is.
Finally, we move on. Wherever we want to be, right or left or straight, we go on.
Then when we need to decide another thing, another occasion, another event, another whatever, we have to go back to the first kiosk. It’s a cycle. Ongoing cycle for life. Make choices, pay for it and swallow the outcome. The most important step is always the first one. The one when you stare at the menu, stare and pray and talk to yourself and talk to the steering wheel of the car and talk to the dashboard and talk to the radio deejay of whatever station you’re listening to and talk in your head over and over and over again, and make effort to gain help for the best choice by talking to Him and doing what He wants us to do. It’s not easy, making a choice. It’s the hardest step. But always remember His promise, sesudah kesulitan itu ada kemudahan. sesudah kesulitan itu ada kemudahan.
Hm... That’s a lot you get from a drive-thru, huh? Yeah, I know. My imagination went into over-drive that day. But, see it this way, every single one of Allah’s creation, from the tiniest microbe to the largest galaxy, He creates them for a reason. For us, human being to learn and study. Because we are blessed with the one thing other creatures don’t have. Our mind that can think. Think. Even the idea of ‘drive-thru’ that He gave to some-whoever-it-was a long time ago is meant to teach us something. Something that we can apply in our daily lives.
So, here it is. My new, updated version of Metaphor of Life. The Drive-Thru. Just here to share. Thank you. Wallahualam.

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