on nature, nurture and the longing heart

One of the major debates on sociology, anthropology, psychology, and other social sciences, is this:

ARE WE A PRODUCT OF NATURE OR NURTURE?

To put it another way,

"Were we born awesome, or are we influenced by awesomeness?"

To illustrate, imagine a "pious" boy.

this is so stereotypical. if you wear kopiah, you must be 'good' 

Imagine he goes into a 'real-world' place. For example, a pre-university college.

But you know, syaitan has been doing his job for thousands of years. He's a type-A pro. Sooner or later...

This is not fantasy. It happened to a friend of a friend of mine.

So, are we the product of nature or nurture? My personal experience suggests BOTH.

And the story of our beloved Prophet affirms this. He was by nature a good person. But there was one incident, where he wanted to join a festival in Makkah. But Allah, with his Wisdom, made Rasulullah sleep, thus keeping him away from the potentially rowdy and unsavoury environment. From this story, we learn one important lesson. Our environment is very important in shaping us.

If we want to be good, find a good environment.

If we want to be otherwise, so be it.

A prominent celebrity in malaysia said a very profound thing,

"If we want to change, Allah will send us people to help us."

I agree.

Ever imagined an environment where people would hurry up for prayers and call you to the masjid?

Ever imagined an environment where you are studying, and someone comes up to you with a cup of tea?

Ever imagined an environment where people remind you with words from the quran?

A few years ago, i didn't even imagine that such people exist. 

But they do. Keep looking.