… Writing about oneself is a tricky business. Too much enthusiasm, and it feels like bragging. Too much modesty, and it reads like an obituary. Somewhere in between lies the balance—but I’ve never trusted myself to find it.
So, instead of drafting an ego-soaked monologue or an awkward list of achievements, I decided to do something different: I asked a friend to write this page. Why? Because sometimes the mirror distorts, and it takes another pair of eyes to describe who we are—without the bias of self-promotion or self-doubt.
What follows is not how I pretend to see myself, but how someone who knows me sees me. And perhaps, in their words, you’ll glimpse something closer to the truth.
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When I was tasked to write about my friend I became overwhelmed. It seemed difficult to express in words the importance of such a person. But after taking a few breathes and drinking a cup of tea, I decided that Safwan is an open book. Trillions of words can be used to describe him. I cannot deny that it will always be challenging to talk about him or limit the brilliance of such an amazing individual, just like how it is impossible to define sunshine and its wonderful existence in our lives. However, this is my humble attempt to put my remarkable friend -Safwan – into words.
We first met through a business meeting. I remember being bewildered when I first heard him talk and express his thoughts. As we all have been conditioned to perceive certain appearances and mold them into categories, we all know Safwan has a distinct look. So seeing him, my mind conjured up presumptions and thoughts, but when I listened to him talk I simply thought to myself “this guy is interesting”. As days went by, our connection grew deeper and I came to know him slowly but surely. Little did I know, this man will turn my life upside down. I am now certain that whoever crosses paths with him is bond to experience an unexplainable imprint in their lives. I’m not sure why or how but maybe it is his bright outlook about life, or the way his eyes seem alive when he talks, or the combination of his distinct qualities. These qualities I came to realize are never stagnant, they keep evolving and keep multiplying that sometimes it feels hard to keep up with him. But alas here I am remembering him and describing him in words while worrying that when I wake up tomorrow his qualities would have multiplied to ten folds more. So before that happens, here are 7 things that make up Safwan.
He is a living encyclopedia. Safwan loves knowledge and his love made him dive deeper and deeper in the sea of information whenever he wanted to learn about a topic. This has made him into a student for life and a mentor at the same time. You can go to him to learn how to develop your passions on one day and the other day you wont be able to find him as he will be buried deep in his books from dusk till dawn. It is not possible to pin point what exacter are his passions as he is passionate about life. One cannot tell whether he enjoys entrepreneurship more or horses especially because of his knowledge about both. You shouldn’t be surprised when you find out that he has enough knowledge about bees to birth an entire beehive, while having enough knowledge about community needs to build and create an interactive platform to serve students.
He is socially intelligent. if there was ever a vote to whom should be given the title “People’s Man” in any given community, it should be Safwan. Social intelligence is a combination of skills expressed through learned behavior and a knowledge of interaction strategies, somewhere along his journey in life, Safwan picked up these skills and learned how to constantly develop them. He is able to connect with anyone he crosses paths with, whether an official at a museum or a student seeking mentorship. What amazes me every time is his ability to perfectly unfold a challenge or a problem an institution is facing without making the people involved feel guilty. On the contrary, he makes them feel optimistic and encouraged to solve any problem they were facing. It takes excellent skills to be able to tell a person he has a problem without offending them, and even better skills to make them hopeful that they will be able to tackle the issue.
He is experimental. This characteristic comes from his courageous nature. While some might shy away from trying new methods or approaches and avoid less traveled roads Safwan isn’t afraid to experiment. His experimental nature has led to the production of
a successful media campaign that resulted in 10,000 housing caravans in refugee camps. It was made possible because he was not afraid to try and attempt something that had more chances of failure to it than a chance of scoring big. It was made possible because he put his heart and soul into an experiment and was courageous enough to take a chance with a little kid he found in a refugee camp.
He is visionary. Are business developers visionary? Some of them might be and some of them might just simply be able to track trends and see where the market is headed. Either way a good business developer is able to drive profit. As wonderful a business developer’s goal is, it seems that he/she is always limited to the scope of the business. Would Safwan be a good business developer? No. He would be an excellent business developer, but that is not his place. Safwan thinks beyond the business, he thinks beyond numbers and figures. He sees global shifts as a whole, he sees where a product or a business is headed not just in terms of consumers or users, but in terms of its sustainability, its long term development, its impact on the community, and it’s footprint on a global scale.
He is chivalrous. This characteristic is the dearest to my heart. I always felt that Safwan is from a different era. An era where knights existed and chivalry is valued more than a job title or a resume. Safwan always left an attractive kind impression on people. It could be because of the way he uses words or the way he knows when to stand up or smile or land a hand, or could simply be because people trusted that he will standup for them if they ever needed him. Would you believe me if I said that he once took a bullet for a friend’s friend? He actually has a scar for that. It is as if the bullet that entered him knew Safwan’s courteous nature and didn’t want to leave without putting a mark to tell the world I was here. As if the bullet itself was honored to have met him. And who wouldn’t be honored to meet such a soul?
He is a leader. There is a huge difference between a pushover, a manger and a leader, take if from someone who experienced them all. A leader is someone who inspires you to take action, he sees your hidden qualities, he makes sure you enhance your skills, and knows how to keep you motivated to achieve a common goal. Safwan always had the ability to engage and inspire people to take action. growing up he was always chosen or elected to lead and make change even next to older classmates. People always saw in him the qualities of a leader. What bewilders me is that he does not see it in himself. Maybe that’s the true mark of a leader? To lead and to be chosen to lead without planning for it or intending to. I suppose so. Because leadership in Safwan comes naturally.
He believes in the good in people. He always looks for the silver-linings in people and in situations. He is not exactly optimistic but he is hopeful. He is hopeful in humanity, in the world and the good in people. This quality I believe has given him the ability to keep going and keep swimming no matter what. Because he knows that he is doing it
all for the people because of the good in them. Which actually made him a fighter. and there is no stopping him. Because he is not just a fighter by our modern day definition, he is a worrier fighting for a cause much bigger than all of us.