Today I got a surprising package from Australia. It was from Abbas Elmualim, whom I knew as a doctoral student at the University of Reading, and who is a professor now at the University of South Australia in Adelaide. The package contained a nice ball-point pen with the Australian university’s insignia and a booklet entitled Happiness: Jewels from the Words of `Abdu’l-Bahá.[1] As I learned from Wikipedia as soon as I returned home, `Abdu’l-Bahá (1844-1921) was the eldest son of Bahá’u'lláh (1817-1892), the founder of the Bahá’í Faith. He was his father’s successor, too. Born in Tehran, he lived in many centers of the Middle East, such as Baghdad, Istanbul, and Acre. Judging by the booklet, the faith is still alive and well. When I opened it at random, I came upon a page with the following inscription: “If we are not happy and joyous at this season, for what other season shall we wait, and for what other time shall we look?”[2] Well put. Very well, indeed. Thank you, Abbas! Having just paid in the post office my income tax for this month, this morning I needed a kick in the pants.

Footnotes

1. Bundoora, Victoria: Bahá’í Publications, 2004.

2. Op. cit., p. 41.