Hearing through the eyes?

It was already late in the night, and we needed to recharge ourselves for the thrills of the day called tomorrow. I almost couldn't wait to start relating about our walk in Sarajevo- under the bright sun-, but what we learnt that night must not remain untold.

Sanadin walked us along the still-foreign streets of Baščaršija until we arrived at where he wanted us to spend the night in. It was a flat in a shop-lot, almost like the flats I've seen in UK, Ireland, and in my own country Malaysia, where shop-lots are bifunctional. We were introduced to Sedin who appeared to be the 'person-in-charge' amongst the few students who shared the flat, and I immediately liked him. During the whole time we spent there, there were two things he never did- he never spoke a word of English, and he never dropped the broad smile he assumed. Undoubtedly the latter left a lasting impression on me..

People are intrinsicly thinking, contemplative beings. Through our senses we absorb our surroundings and depending on each individual's effort, these are digested as food for thought. If we care to make some further connections, those thoughts will translate into another form, be it written, lingual, or behavioural. When the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "(what constitutes) the religion is good advice", he didn't say it for nothing. When one's contemplative-digestive-active connection is intact, we'd hope to see changes and improvements to kick-start. But we musn't limit it to only spoken words, because actions many times do speak out louder. Sedin might or might not realise it, but his smiles have taught me how much even a single honest smile can mean. His soundless smiles sounded to us like a 'welcome', a 'make yourselves home', a 'we're happy to have you over', a 'please come again anytime you want'- as if these words emanated from his smiles each time he turns one to us. I never knew my eyes could actually hear!

With the complete bedding handed to me, my eyes were almost tight-closed. On the broad, cozy sofa-turned-bed, I reclined like a tired traveller- indeed I was like nothing less. Wait a minute, where was Nubli? Or better still, where's the toilet in case I need to use it in the middle of the night? Communication was very limited between us and certainly their smiles won't give a shed of answer to these. Eventually my fatigue saved me from these trivials, for I was too tired I couldn't spend an extra minute awake.