Careful,

Someone may be Listening

There was an astonishing headline in the Times of India of  December 19, 1982. It ran: Careful. Uncle Sam may be listening.

The story behind this headline is that over one million telephone calls and telexes are made from the United States every day. These communications are first picked up at an earth station in Virginia. They are then relayed through a satellite orbiting 2300 miles above the earth. All this happens in less than a second.

This means that every message which is electrically transmitted from the United States reaches the U.S. government before it reaches the intended person. If a secret-service officer wants to know anyone’s message, all he has to do is give the person’s phone number to the earth station. The communication is then intercepted and automatically recorded.

A person who realizes that the government is listening to his conversation will be very careful what he says. In the same way anyone who is aware of the fact that God hears his every word will be cautious in his speech. When one addresses someone in an inconsiderate manner, one thinks that one is just addressing a human-being, but in fact what one says reaches God first. We should be careful in our speech, for God hears everything we say. □

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Charity

Every good act is charity. Your smiling to your brother is charity; an exhortation of your fellowman to virtuous deeds is equal to alms-giving; your putting a wanderer on the right road is charity; your assisting the blind is charity; your removing stones, thorns, and other obstructions from the road is charity; your giving water to the thirsty is charity. A man’s true wealth, hereafter, is the good he does in this world to his fellowmen. When he dies, people will say, “What property has he left behind him?” But the angels will ask, “What good deeds has he sent before him?” (Hadith)