Happy 9th Birthday, Aisyah Nur

Today someone mentioned empathy which reminded me of the best guru of empathy that I have, my 9 year-old niece, Aisyah Nur.

On her birthday, she greeted us with, “I appreciate all the big and small presents that everyone gave me, I appreciate everything thank you so much.”

And then in her birthday speech, all she wanted was a good birthday and that everyone she love goes to heaven.

When her baby sister played with her toy and broke a piece of it, she said, “Khadijah accidentally broke it” without blaming one year-old Khadijah and knowing the fact that it was an accident.

She hosted her party and told jokes because in her words, “I like to make people laugh, that’s my hobby!” She facilitated a joke sharing session, made everyone gave a joke and gave honest comments to everyone. Her facilitation skills were amazing and so constructive – so matured for a 9 year-old.

I admire that she enjoys her age, acts like a kid despite so much maturity in empathy. I am so proud of the person she has become and excited for the person that she’ll grow up to be.

Today is a big learning for me to handle situations with people but if I ever have a benchmark of how kind I would want to be, I want to be as kind as Aisyah Nur, one of the best person I know. 🙂