Cheng Meng

It's Cheng Meng again, the Chinese equivalent to All Soul's Day I suppose. We visit the graves of our deceased ancestors or relatives and burn offerings to them.

But during this period, many people pass away as well. You could say it's a time for the people who need to pass on, to leave.

It doesn't mean the people who pass on during this time are old. My driver, who has been working for us for more than a decade, had a sister who was only 48 years old. She died of cancer on Friday. And as I said before, the second son of our beloved Sultan also passed away due to asthma complications.

Both their parents have to bear the heartache of burying their children, knowing that the moment they laid them to rest beneath the earth, they won't be able to see them again.

Suddenly I feel surrounded by death. It's stifling, it hurts and it's depressing when you think of the hurt of the deceased people's family members. As outsiders, we feel sad when we hear of their deaths. But imagine, a father getting a phone call in the middle of the night, telling him that his son died. A mother, holding her daughter's hand as she slips away. Their brothers and sisters crying for their lost sibling, a lost part of their soul. Their children, mourning for the parents they lost; mourning for the father who would never see them graduate or marry or have children.

I know many people always say 'You don't know what you've lost till its gone', or 'Value what you have before it's gone'. Easier said than done. So many times we feel like that person we love beside us will never leave us, until one day you get the dreaded phone call or message.

Maybe we should try to live each day to the fullest, take a little time to move slower and appreciate everything everyone around us does everyday. Then maybe, if they suddenly leave, at least we would have some, if not much closure. And maybe that little attention we pay to them or that little smile we gave them, would have made all the difference in making them a little happier and content.