Death II

I have previously written a post on Death - that post, which was dated 11th Oct 2009, was nearly one year ago. And after almost an entire year, many things have changed, some things have not. Some things move along in life, whether you like it or not, even if you'd really want it to freeze in time. Some things go around in circles, seemingly making progress but in the end, it makes you wonder whether you've always been at square one, save to mention whether you're back at square one (assuming that you have once moved away from it). It has been a gloomy week. Besides some personal issues which I've had to grapple with over the past week, 3 'notable' deaths this week caught my attention. I don't know any of these 3 people personally, but even in their passing, some thoughts came to mind.

The first passing-away was Dr. Balaji Sadasivan, a neurosurgeon who became a Member of Parliament and Senior Minister of State. I don't really know much about him or even his contributions, all I know is that he gave up his practice as one of the best local neurosurgeons to serve the people and the nation. But what really touched me was this comment by 2 10-year old boys after his passing,

"We want to see him for the last time. I am very sad because he was a great man, a good MP. I want to be a doctor and an MP like him when I grow up."

I was on the bus when I read this report, and for a moment I could feel tears about to well up. It made me wonder whether I will ever hear these words from someone who will want to be like me because I'm a good doctor who has made a difference in someone's life, because my testimony has brought someone to Christ. Will I inspire someone to aspire to become a doctor? Will someone come to Christ because of me? Will someone want to become a mentor to others because I've been a mentor to them? Although God holds the future for me, I do not know the time of my passing. It could very well be tomorrow, or even immediately after I finish this post. Will people aspire to be like me, because I have fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith whenever God calls me home?

The second passing was that of Mdm Kwa Geok Choo, or better known as Mrs Lee Kuan Yew. There has been a recent spate of articles and interviews which gave the public an insight of the marriage of the Minister Mentor and his wife. An article online was titled "Wife, Confidante, Lawyer, Mother". And I was thinking, MM Lee was indeed a fortunate man - 61 years of happiness, in his own words. What more can a man ask for - to be able to marry someone who would walk with you for an entire life, as a pillar of support in all that you do?

Entering a relationship, save to say marriage, is probably one of the most difficult decisions for people who take relationships seriously to make. Life as an individual may probably be complicated enough, what more two people? We may hope that the perfect match is out there somewhere and will appear at sometime; we may want to be almost 100% certain that "This is the one!" before we really commit. But whatever we hope for, it certainly requires a leap of faith - to be able to trust this person to make good on his/her commitment to you, to be able to believe that this person to keep his/her promises to you, to be able to discover and know this person for who he/she really is, but more importantly to be able to give him/her the opportunity to fulfill the above.

"Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable." - C.S. Lewis

The third passing was that of Ms. Tan Mingwei, a Singaporean third-year medical undergraduate at Cambridge who was killed in a London hit-and-run crash. By no fault of her own, her existence on this Earth has come to an abrupt end. From her picture on the front page, she was a pretty lady, probably a jovial person who brought joy to others. I asked myself, if it was me, would I leave this world with any regrets? Regrets, different from 'things-I-would-want-to-do'. There are a million and one things that I would like to do. But regrets, things that I could have done but I did not. Things that I could have said but did not.

"Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable. - Sydney J. Harris