Last night, I caught a rerun of, “Locked Up Abroad,” on the National Geographic channel. The show is so captivating, especially if you’re into traveling; it makes you think, “Hey, that could happen to me!”

The episode I saw last night was about an 18-year-old Aussie boy that was living in Kuwait with his father. As many of us don’t realize, Kuwait is a dry country; that means that they do not tolerate any drugs or alcohol. As a matter of fact, if you’re caught distributing or using drugs or alcohol, you can be punished by the death penalty; which in Kuwait is administered by hanging the convicted. Now you’re thinking, “Holy smokes!” Right?

So here’s the scoop. The boy described himself as, “living for the moment,” which meant smoking hashish and drinking alcohol like the crazy college freshman down the hall from you (…right? ). Until one day, the boy met a man in Kuwait that begged and pleaded him to sell some of his hash. For weeks, the man was breathing down the boy’s neck about it. He’d say, “Sell me some! Sell me some! I can’t get it anywhere and I need it!” And as a naive and scared 18-year-old boy would do, he left his friend’s party to meet the man that kept pressuring him, and finally, the boy sold him the hash; he went through with the deal. It was the boy’s first drug deal. And it was the boy’s last drug deal.

The man he sold the hash to was an undercover officer. After the deal, the boy nervously drove off, and unbeknown to him, he was being followed by undercover officers. He was followed back to his friend’s house, where he returned to the party he left to do the drug deal from. Needless to say, the officers raided the party and arrested all of the kids for possession and use of drugs and alcohol. Need I remind you that the punishment for that type of conduct is the death penalty???!

After the arrest, the boy was thrown into jail and tortured, even though torture is prohibited in Kuwait’s legal system. He was told he wouldn’t be given the death penalty, but rather 25 years in Kuwait’s central jail system. 25 miserable years. Still, that was unbelievably devastating news.

So, while the boy was in jail, he had a life changing experience, an epiphany where he mentally let go of everything in his life. In solitude, he allowed himself to experience euphoria; he started reading about the profit Muhammad in the Koran, and began to understand the fundamental roles of life.

He looked to the Koran for the one passage that gave him the strength to go on. In front of the camera, he read, gasping to fight the emotions from the crushing experiences in his past:

“God don’t let me feel arrogant when I succeed, and don’t let me feel hopeless when I fail, but remind me always that failing precedes success. God teach me that forgiving is the highest level of strength and taking avenge is the first sign of weakness.”

He then commented on the passage, with huge tears running down his face, and said, “I don’t know why I always find it difficult (to read the passage), probably because it take me back a bit. I believe I’m wiser from my experience, and the way I looked at it, and the way I learned from it, and through the people that I met. Happier no, wiser yes. I wish I hadn’t gone through it.”

This, to me, is what I describe as a raw moment in life. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing beautiful about the situation the boy (now a man) was in. But, what was beautiful was the boy’s clairvoyant thoughts and dynamic perspective on his life when he was faced with such a devastating situation. He was forced to give up everything that he had, and expected to live for years in a blazing hot cell in the middle of Kuwait.

Fortunately, many of us cannot relate to being thrown into a Kuwaiti jail at age 18, but what we can relate to are the times that we’ve been alone in a bad situation where we were forced to think and make decisions on our own. Forced to be our only support system. Forced to self-talk our way through a difficult situation.

Maybe you were lost in a foreign country without knowledge of the language, and no cell phone reception? Or maybe it was the time where you were alone in Washington DC, took a cut through at night in a dark alley, and were abruptly greeted by a group of no-good hoodlums? Those times. When we feel most alone. When our thoughts come so clearly and so quickly. When we unknowingly adapt our character to the situation at hand.

That feeling of personal empowerment is what I am aiming to share with you. The time where you faced adversity and were scared, but yet you prevailed; when all the odds were against you and you made out like Seabiscuit. Those feelings inside, like you were King Leonidas leading your men into battle with the Persians. Alone but in charge. In control of your mind, body, and spirit.

In addition to sharing that moment with you, I wanted to provide the wisdom that’s offered in the Koran; the one humble prayer that changed the boy’s understanding of the world. My intention of referencing this passage from the Koran is not to offend the world’s infinitely differing religions, but rather to RT (for my twitterers ;-D) and pass along the wisdom that we can all strive to live by! Here it is again:

“God don’t let me feel arrogant when I succeed, and don’t let me feel hopeless when I fail, but remind me always that failing precedes success. God teach me that forgiving is the highest level of strength and taking avenge is the first sign of weakness.”

MLE’s Request: I would love to know what were some of your, “It moments,” were! Please share your stories in the comment section below for everyone to read!

xoxo,

MLE

Last night, I caught a rerun of, “Locked Up Abroad,” on the National Geographic channel. The show is so captivating, especially if you’re into traveling; it makes you think, “Hey, that could happen to me!”

The episode I saw last night was about an 18-year-old Aussie boy that was living in Kuwait with his father. As many of us don’t realize, Kuwait is a dry country; that means that they do not tolerate any drugs or alcohol. As a matter of fact, if you’re caught distributing or using drugs or alcohol, you can be punished by the death penalty; which in Kuwait is administered by hanging the convicted. Now you’re thinking, “Holy smokes!” Right?

So here’s the scoop. The boy described himself as, “living for the moment,” which meant smoking hashish and drinking alcohol like the crazy college freshman down the hall from you (…right? ). Until one day, the boy met a man in Kuwait that begged and pleaded him to sell some of his hash. For weeks, the man was breathing down the boy’s neck about it. He’d say, “Sell me some! Sell me some! I can’t get it anywhere and I need it!” And as a naive and scared 18-year-old boy would do, he left his friend’s party to meet the man that kept pressuring him, and finally, the boy sold him the hash; he went through with the deal. It was the boy’s first drug deal. And it was the boy’s last drug deal.

The man he sold the hash to was an undercover officer. After the deal, the boy nervously drove off, and unbeknown to him, he was being followed by undercover officers. He was followed back to his friend’s house, where he returned to the party he left to do the drug deal from. Needless to say, the officers raided the party and arrested all of the kids for possession and use of drugs and alcohol. Need I remind you that the punishment for that type of conduct is the death penalty???!

After the arrest, the boy was thrown into jail and tortured, even though torture is prohibited in Kuwait’s legal system. He was told he wouldn’t be given the death penalty, but rather 25 years in Kuwait’s central jail system. 25 miserable years. Still, that was unbelievably devastating news.

So, while the boy was in jail, he had a life changing experience, an epiphany where he mentally let go of everything in his life. In solitude, he allowed himself to experience euphoria; he started reading about the profit Muhammad in the Koran, and began to understand the fundamental roles of life.

He looked to the Koran for the one passage that gave him the strength to go on. In front of the camera, he read, gasping to fight the emotions from the crushing experiences in his past:

“God don’t let me feel arrogant when I succeed, and don’t let me feel hopeless when I fail, but remind me always that failing precedes success. God teach me that forgiving is the highest level of strength and taking avenge is the first sign of weakness.”

He then commented on the passage, with huge tears running down his face, and said, “I don’t know why I always find it difficult (to read the passage), probably because it take me back a bit. I believe I’m wiser from my experience, and the way I looked at it, and the way I learned from it, and through the people that I met. Happier no, wiser yes. I wish I hadn’t gone through it.”

This, to me, is what I describe as a raw moment in life. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing beautiful about the situation the boy (now a man) was in. But, what was beautiful was the boy’s clairvoyant thoughts and dynamic perspective on his life when he was faced with such a devastating situation. He was forced to give up everything that he had, and expected to live for years in a blazing hot cell in the middle of Kuwait.

Fortunately, many of us cannot relate to being thrown into a Kuwaiti jail at age 18, but what we can relate to are the times that we’ve been alone in a bad situation where we were forced to think and make decisions on our own. Forced to be our only support system. Forced to self-talk our way through a difficult situation.

Maybe you were lost in a foreign country without knowledge of the language, and no cell phone reception? Or maybe it was the time where you were alone in Washington DC, took a cut through at night in a dark alley, and were abruptly greeted by a group of no-good hoodlums? Those times. When we feel most alone. When our thoughts come so clearly and so quickly. When we unknowingly adapt our character to the situation at hand.

That feeling of personal empowerment is what I am aiming to share with you. The time where you faced adversity and were scared, but yet you prevailed; when all the odds were against you and you made out like Seabiscuit. Those feelings inside, like you were King Leonidas leading your men into battle with the Persians. Alone but in charge. In control of your mind, body, and spirit.

In addition to sharing that moment with you, I wanted to provide the wisdom that’s offered in the Koran; the one humble prayer that changed the boy’s understanding of the world. My intention of referencing this passage from the Koran is not to offend the world’s infinitely differing religions, but rather to RT (for my twitterers ;-D) and pass along the wisdom that we can all strive to live by! Here it is again:

“God don’t let me feel arrogant when I succeed, and don’t let me feel hopeless when I fail, but remind me always that failing precedes success. God teach me that forgiving is the highest level of strength and taking avenge is the first sign of weakness.”

MLE’s Request: I would love to know what were some of your, “It moments,” were! Please share your stories in the comment section below for everyone to read!

xoxo,

MLE