How are you? I saw a post not long ago where someone asked their followers, “When you ask someone ‘How are you?’ do you actually want a response, or do you just use it as a greeting?”

I was a bit confused. I had always been taught that if you ask someone how they are doing, it should result in them actually opening up and you listening. I’m aware that most people just use it as a conversation starter, but it still bothers me. It bothers me because there are people that are carrying so much on their shoulders, and if given the opportunity to take a break and talk to someone, it could make the world of a difference in their life. But it seems like everyone around them just doesn’t have the time or care enough.

A few years ago, I decided to make sure that I weekly reached out to someone. I would message them, go out to eat with them, or just give them a phone call. You know what I found? Pain, joy, and happiness that someone took the time to hear them out. The same for myself. It means the world when a person takes the time to listen to me.

This is increasingly important with the way our societies propagate the ideal that time is money. An ideal that causes us to tire ourselves and to neglect important relationships, and the work that goes into them. Just a few days ago a mother shot her children and then ended her own life. It made me think, how much turmoil had to be going on for a mother to take the life of her children? What was going on within? Not to mention that she was an active member of the Muslim community and female empowerment activist.

How many others are on the brink? How many others need someone to show them love? How many others are waiting for you to listen?

We are social beings. We need each other. We are bricks that together create a structure that is both beautiful and strong, but by ourselves we are easily broken by life.

We need to make this family of believers a reality. This is more than Instagram, this is more than social media. This is our calling.

I request of you to find one person you haven’t spoken to in more than a month and check on them. Bismillah.

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