Just a story about a kid

Assalamualaikum.

Saturday, April 16th 2016

I want to tell you a story about a kid. This kid usually didn't talk much when he met new people. He sometimes nags himself about being so quiet. And he always wanted to overcome it.

But then, you know, when you try to overcome your weakness, you'll grow up with strengths you never expect. Isn't it?

One day, this kid tried his luck to join a recruitment for a prestigious program of youth exchange to another country. The selection of the program was very strict and the participants were up to -around- fifty people that time. Some of them were also the participants for the same program of last periods who tried their luck again this year. There were a participant which is major in English literature department, a participant which his English accent is very similar to British accent (so that he felt like he was watching western movies when he saw him speaking), a participant which had already surrounded with India people when he was very young, and many other impressing participants. Suddenly, this kid got depressed right after seeing those competitors for he thought that his English skills was still not that good.

The first day, the selection would took 5 people for each program from 56 participants total, which will continue the next tests for two days ahead. And bam! The announcement was out. And his name is written on the list of 5 people who deserve to get into the next selection. His score got him the rank 1 of 5 finalists.

Unfortunately, he didn't bring any white shirt which should be the dress code for the second day because they couldn't attend the technical meeting a week before the selection day. The committees said that every information would be posted online so the participants who didn't attend the technical meeting can still know the information through the pages of the program. But for the white shirt dress code, they didn't write it on the page. And worse, he just knew the information in the evening, after the first day had ended. That time, he was very tired after a long day and needed to arrest already. He tried to make a contact to his friend in the city but the friend was out of reach and all the shops were already closed. He couldn't find any white shirt all the night. He wished to find the thing in the morning, then he fell asleep. In the morning, he got up early and went out at 6 o'clock to search for any shops which sell white shirt (even if we think about it, what kind of people would open their clothing shop early in the morning? 6 o'clock?). But then, he found it. He couldn't even get what the hell was the seller of the shop thinking that he/she made a decision to open his/her shop at that time? What the meaning of his/her life? Like that, he finally could attend the second day with his new white shirt.

The next day was day for culture and common knowledge test. Like before, he wasn't confident of the test he had done and nagged himself that he would definitely not going to pass this session. While other participants seemed to have done better performances than him.

The last day of that program selection, the committees would announce the person selected for each program. And the unexpected thing happened. The person who will represent Kaltim for ASEAN Students Visit India (ASVI) program is him!

You know that Allah loves you more than what you expected. Good things will always happen to people with good heart. When people work hard. When people pray more than they fear about what will happen. Allah could show his mercy in every condition you wouldn't believe he will.