Muharram's Lesson

I was born in Karachi, Pakistan some thirty years ago and have often thought about God, the meaning of life and where I fit in. Having been born into a Muslim family, I was taught that humans' purpose in life is to worship God and help fellow beings, especially other Muslims in times of needs. I am quite proud of my religion and the lesson of peace that it teaches its followers.
Today, Islam has been a topic of controversy and have been often misinterpreted intentionally and unintentionally by people of different faiths and those who fail to understand the cultural and historical context it was revealed in. Sadly, even Muslims have lost the message Islam teaches and focus on materialistic goods and instant gratification. As we become more intolerant of differences, misjudge each others' intentions, fail to understand different points of views, disrespect and discriminate the weak and resort to violence as means of voicing our opinions, we are getting further and further away from what it means to be a human in God's eyes. In my opinion, a human is someone who has been given a decent amount of intelligence and a choice of free will that he may use for the common good.  Prophet Muhammad p.b.u.h. was an extraordinary and humble man who was bestowed with a larger-than-life task to teach the much ignorant, divided, and stubborn Arabic population the word of God. Not only did he successfully manage to convert them to Islam, but a significant part of our religion was influenced by just his way of living. We called that part the sunnah.
I am also considered a "minority" in Islam. I am Shia. It's a long political story as to why this subsection of Islam was created, but mainly we believe that after the prophet's death, his family had the political right to lead Islam's followers. I am also a "Syed" or "pure blood". We claim lineage from Prophet Muhammad through his only daughter Bibi Fatima.
Long story short, we Shias are observing the month of Muharram to remember the brutal and violent deaths of members of the Prophet's family. To honor those who died, I want to write down five things I learned from Karbala, the site of the the massacre.
Five Things I learned from Karbala:

1. Know yourself and what values you stand for. Hazrat Hussein p.b.u.p believed in his grandfather's cause and wanted to preserve the religion's sanctity, thus he died protecting it.
2. Be therefore your friends and family and whatever cause they are fighting for. Some 70 followers, which included family of Hazrat Hussein p.b.u.h. vowed to fight for Islam against an army 1,000 strong.
3. When you want something, look at its long-term effects, rather than its short-term effects. Hazrat Husssin p.b.u.h. could easily have let Yazid spread his version of Islam and besmirch its truth without challenging him. However, he knew the long-term result would be the utter violation of his grandfather's religion.
4. Learn to appreciate the smaller things in life. We are so focused in our lives that we fail to observe the little blessings that we may have-like family or water. Most of Prophet Muhammad's family was murdered and Bibi Zainub along with the women of the martyrs had to endure loneliness and pain. Hazrat Muhammad and his family, which included little children also had to endure three scorching days without water.
5. Forgive always. Hur in Yazid's army on the last night before the battle and knowing he will die joined Hazrat Hussein's army. Hazrat Hussein accepted him with open arms.