Some of you may know Mr Mohammad Abdooh. He is the brave cancer patient who went public in a video blog to share his experience over his last days. It’s another stark reminder that death is real. (lifebeforedeath.org.sg) Mr Abdooh passed away on 20th Nov, 3 days after wq left. I’m reminded of the last non-work-related book I read… “Tuesdays with Morris” by Mitch Albom (I think). Briefly, it’s a true story about Mitch himself finding out years after he left university that his professor, Morris, was dying from a terminal illness. Mitch had promised Morris that he’ll visit after graduating, but he had always postponed that visit in order to attend that next business meeting, to rush that next work report… So Mitch finally went back to visit Morris, on a Tuesday, like in the university days. And the Tuesday meetings became a ritual, during which Morris taught Mitch his last lesson... how to die graciously.
It was my first day back at work yesterday, after bidding farewell to wq. The day went by pretty much in a daze. Everyone asked me about my holiday, how I must have spent my time with peishan in preparation for parenthood. I glossed over casually about spending time at a holiday chalet, shopping, eating and catching a movie. Not a word about wq. Spending half the time mourning the loss of an old friend is just not the topic for casual conversation. Back at my parents’ place for dinner after work, I was pleasantly surprised when my mum related a couple of her colleagues who were wq’s patients. Their anecdotes further cemented wq’s success as a kind, compassionate and really popular family doctor. Easily the best in Sengkang, and some say Punggol too.
Ok, i can call myself a blogger now.
2 comments:
After Mitch Albom's hit 'Tuesdays with Morrie', he wrote another book called 'Five People You Meet in Heaven', which talks about this uncle of his who was an unimportant figure in the eyes of the world. He visualised his uncle's afterlife in heaven and how people whom he had mattered to before reuniting with him. Both books are about how to live life in this world - the first from a dying man's reflections and the second from the point of view of the afterlife.
To me, Albom's first book would not be complete without the second one. To have lived life to the fullest while we're still here is wonderful, especially when you look at how many people squander the gift of life away, indulging in destructive and wasteful pursuits. Yet how many of us are able to 'live life to the fullest', beyond our theoretical knowledge that this is what we should do? I echo Xue'e's earlier email that the call to 'seize the day' is much more easily said than done. In no time, we will once again step into the 'running wheel' like a hamster and run like nobody's business, with no end in sight. Please don't take me wrong - this is all good, cos it's all done to provide for our loved ones. I'm just saying that to put in 101% effort on our own accord to 'live life to fullest' may at best be a concept on our wishful-thinking minds. Of course I am not advocating nihilism and suggest that we forget about loving people and focus solely on our narcissistic selves.
So what?
Albom's second book provides a nice answer to this question. It places our hope and faith in a realm where we are engulfed by an eternal joy. When we realise that our lives here are but a transition and that we are destined for somewhere eternal, many knots can be untied.
Talking about the death of an old friend may not be a good topic for small talk, but i sincerely feel that it should always be a prompter at the back of our minds. A prompter that constantly nudges us to search for the meaning of life and to investigate the mystery of the afterlife.
By now you must have guessed that i am talking about these things from a Christian perspective. But in no way am i trying to hard-sell set of belief. I am merely suggesting that we should all start to do some serious shopping. Read up, do research, talk to people, listen to seminars, think, look, search. Do all these from your most honest, open minds. Go beyond the that's-your-theory-and-this-is-mine-so-let's-live-happily-ever-after comfort zone and try to find out the truth. To have searched and made a decision is far better than going with the flow and see how it goes. Sometimes, it goes before we can see.
Quoting Xue's once again, this is only the beginning. To be very blunt, all of us have no choice but to be stuck in this period between now and our times of death. The only difference is the length of the period. The fact is most people can't be bothered to think about these things. I feel that most don't really have a position, either because it's too obscure a subject, it's not the time to consider such things yet or it's good enough to be a nice person while i live.
Then when an old friend passed on, we find ourselves thinking "Wahlao...why like that? what will happen next?". If it bothers us enough to ask these seemingly rhetorical questions, it warrants spending some of our precious time finding out the answers for ourselves. Anyway, if we want to 'live life to the fullest', isn't the purpose of life a good place to start?
Mitch Albom's books are great. I'm reading his "For one more time" now. It is about what you would say or do if you had a chance to meet your loved ones who've passed on again. I've just started and will be glad to pass it around once i'm done with it:)
Well, perhaps we should not be too hung up about "living life to the fullest"... but just to live life without regrets and simply be happy everyday? As the saying goes "today is a gift, that is why they call it the present".
Well, work may get all shitty and depressing at times, but i guess there's more to life than what happens to us in the office. At least that's what i usually do - my mind goes on auto-switch off from all stuff relating to the office when i step out of the ofice. My time outside work are sacredly reserved for my family and friends, unless i have absolutely no choice:)
Post a Comment