Talking about losses suffered in the course of life, mention must be made of the losses that our mind and body suffers. Mental and emotional health is of great importance. Stress and depression seriously impacts our health, so it needs to be guarded against on war footing. A solution to this problem lies in believing in God, doing regular meditation and prayers, and having a good life style, besides proper medication and nutrition.
Depression can cause loss of sleep and loss of memory. Memory loss is a state of forgetfulness in which one cannot remember past events. It is age related and caused by some chronic diseases also. Stressful life can also contribute to it. Other health related losses are loss of hair, loss of hearing, loss of eyesight, loss of appetite, etc.
Another loss is loss of character, about which it has been said that when it is lost, everything is lost in life. Character makes one courageous and strong. We face life boldly and become disciplined if we are of good character. We adhere to moral values and adopt a balanced lifestyle free from extravagance. Good moral character means good human values.
Characterless people cannot do justice with their job or the people around them. They remain stressful with negative thoughts and bad lifestyle which impacts both their health, wealth, and everything else. Good moral character makes one benevolent and the person shows humility in his dealings with other people. He is like a branch of tree laden with fruits that is bowed down towards earth due to its humility. A person with good character cannot be egotist and will not look down upon others. He will treat everyone with due honour and respect.
Good moral character demands that one should be knowledgeable and should love to keep the company of scholars and people of wisdom with high moral character. Such a person avoids the company of bad and anti-social elements in the society. He treats everyone equally and with justice to all and malice towards none. The marginalised sections of the society receive special treatment from him. He lives an austere life, free from greed and extravagance. Moreover, he is God fearing and leads a pious life. He is grateful to everyone, always truthful, honest, having forbearance of highest order and taking the challenges of life head on. He prefers to pay others in need rather than expecting to receive anything in return from them.
Therefore, loss of character means loss of everything else and having a good moral character earns us respect and honour everywhere in the society. It is so much important that we are required to produce certificates of good moral character on many occasions in our life like in schools, colleges, universities and even in seeking jobs and employment.
Other forms of losses are equally of grave nature. These are like loss of childhood innocence in the shape of child labour and child abuse, loss of freedom, loss of cultural heritage, loss of citizenship and more importantly, the loss of time. Every day passed by is lost and every year passed by is lost. It is a great loss because lost time never comes again.
Of all the losses, the loss of a near and dear one is most heart- wrenching. Only a parent knows what the loss of his child means, or only a boy knows what the loss of his dear mother or father means for him. There is a skit in which a boy asks a telephone operator for a call to his mother. When the operator asked him for the telephone number of his mother, the boy told him that he only knows her address as she is in heaven. The operator understood and passed the call to a lady operator who pretended to be his mother and talked with the boy while herself bitterly weeping and sobbing. The boy went home and was happy that he had talked to his mother in heaven.
It has been well said: “It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”

—The writer is a retired telecom engineer

Peerzada Abdul Rashid