Have you stopped to wonder, what Ramadaan is about?

Right now, I'm just plain down annoyed. Everyone decides to turn over new leaves in the auspicious month of Ramadaan - which is all well and good, even I try my best to be an even better person - but most people can't grasp the simple concept of Ramadaan itself. It's not simply to wear your cloaks & scarves, or to perform every Salaah (prayer) at the Musjid or punctually (because admit it, many of us are procrastinators outside of this blessed month), and it's not only about being the most charitable than you've been all year round, or reading the most Qura'an. Ramadaan is the month to teach us about tolerance, and will power, and empathy - empathy for our fellow human beings, both in this beautiful country of ours and outside it, who have nothing to eat or drink from morning till evening. It's supposed to teach us to appreciate what we have, because there are many in the world who don't have even a tenth of it. It's supposed to teach us, "waste not, want not". It's supposed to teach us how to use our resources sparingly, because what we have, and what we take for granted, are luxuries and commodities very few can afford in other parts of the world - or really, even just around the corner from our own homes sometimes. The thing is, people forget this: I think we waste more food inside the month of Ramadaan than outside of it. Which defeats the whole purpose don't you think? Stuff yourselves at Sehri so you can last the whole day - never mind that someone in Somalia would be grateful for a single date, if you don't get your egg and toast and cup of tea and bowl of cereal and banana, there is no way you're going to make it through the day. And if you don't stuff yourself at Iftaar, then where's the satisfaction in the fast? I see the waste, even in my own household, and it disgusts me. It doesn't mean that just because we can spread out a decadent feast every night and morning, we should - in fact, that's all the more reason not to! And what irks me even more, is the way people are so immature and suddenly can't contain themselves every time they're faced with the temptation of food during the day - the whole idea of tolerance becomes redundant when you complain of hunger pangs continuously. Do I really have to ask you to think of those who are faced with those same gut wrenching feelings every day? Of those who survive off of a meagre Sehri, uncomplainingly, simply because they have no other choice - even outside the month of Ramadaan? It actually angers me - because we have so much, and yet we learn so little from the blessed month.

"O you who believe, fasting is decreed for you, as it was decreed for those before you, that you may become righteous." (Qura'an [2:183])