Yes, perhaps I am naïve, innocent, optimistic. Thinking the best of people I have no reason to think the best of. Even of one who reportedly once promised to snap my spine and break it into a hundred pieces. Yes, even of one who, according to a friend, yearned to see that threat become reality.
Yes, perhaps I am as naïve, innocent and optimistic as I was back then, thinking the best of one who reportedly longed to see me lying on the ground, crying and defeated, nursing a smashed up broken back. This imagery comes from a poem I wrote twenty-seven years ago, just after an old friend took it upon himself to set the record straight for me. Was that true? I don’t suppose I will ever know.
Why do I think the best of people I have no reason to think the best of? Because decades have passed. Because I assume we have all grown up. Because I assume we have matured and changed. Because we all have regrets. Because I have not walked in their shoes. Or maybe just because it’s what we’re called to do as believers.
Hate no one, no matter how much they’ve wronged you. Live humbly, no matter how wealthy you become. Think positively, no matter how hard life is. Give much, even if you’ve been given little. Keep in touch with the ones who have forgotten you, and forgive the one who has wronged you, and do not stop praying for the best for those you love.
Attributed to Ali ibn Abi Talib
If I am wrong about them, may God soften their hearts and make my good opinion of them true. If they still harbour hostility towards me, may the Lord of both the vast universe and minuscule quarks grant them serenity and good grace. If I am still simply extremely naïve, innocent and optimistic, may God answer the prayers of the naïve, innocent and optimistic one.
Yes, for the naïve, innocent and optimistic one daily thinks to himself: whatever wrong has been done, I will still think the best of them and remember them in my prayers. I do not curse them. Quite the opposite in fact. Instead, I mention their names, asking for every good thing for them, and every day those sentiments widen to those nearest and dearest to them too. May God answer the prayers of the naïve and optimistic. Amin.
Last modified: 28 December 2022
