On the 28th April 2011 it was my bosses last day at work. After 36 years of work he was retiring. In the office there were only a handful of people but at 2.30pm several people suddenly appeared. It was a surreal moment as the office was packed full of people who just came to watch the retirement ceremony.
After 36 years of work it had all come down to this. My boss was standing in front of more than 20 people and was about to embark on his last speech.
His speech was full of emotion and about the important lesson he learnt over the years. It is amazing to think that when my boss started in 1974, there were no computers or fax machines. All engineering drawings had to be drawn by hand!
After his speech everyone clapped and then everyone had gone just as fast as they came. My boss was left alone to sit in his (now empty) office one last time…
This got me thinking that I have just started my working career. I am a graduate and I wonder what was going through my bosses mind as he was delivering his final speech. I have more than 40 years until I get to such a position. In fact it could be longer if the Government decides to increase the retirement age once again!
I wonder how my career will plan out and who will come to my retirement speech? My boss used to say that it doesn’t seem a day ago that he started his first day at work. Time does go too fast and thinking back to it I can’t believe that I have already worked for nearly 2 years.
God tells us the 3 stages of life we all will go through in the Quran in chapter 30 verse 54:
“God is He who created you in (a state of) weakness, then gave you strength after weakness, then after strength gave (you) weakness and grey hair. He creates what He wills. And it is He Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Powerful.”
In short the stages are that we will start weak when we are children, then grow to become strong in our youth and then become old and frail.
It is strange that you spend most of your life working when you are in your prime. You start as a graduate and then become better at your job and get promoted. It is only that once you get ‘old and grey’ that you are allowed to retire.
As they say ‘life is short.’ Why is it that we spend most of our lives working? We work to earn money but is earning money the only meaning of our existence?
In the Quran Chapter 3 verse 185 it states what all humans will be faced with and why we are here. It says:
“Every soul will taste of death. And you will be paid on the Day of Resurrection only that which you have fairly earned. Whoso is removed from the Fire and is made to enter paradise, he indeed is triumphant. The life of this world is but comfort of illusion.”
This is a powerful and important message.
It must be remembered that whilst we spend most of our lives on Earth in the workplace, the real aim in life is to please God and to prepare for our afterlife. If we carry out good deeds and if God is willing then we will enter paradise where we will remain forever.
I hope that when it comes to my retirement one day I can say in my final speech that my time at work didn’t go to waste. I hope I can say that I used the time when I was in my prime to good effect. I hope I can say during my working life I contributed to several projects which benefited the community and that I have no regrets.
The biggest thing of all is that whilst at work I hope I continued to please God and did my best to spread the message of truth.
Let’s see what happens…
Mr Zee's Blog 
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