Remembering what matters
|Native Sabahan Erna is (not) Malay but loves Malay literature. Her hobbies: cats/gaming/blogging at ernamerin.com/Tweeting at @ernamh.|
JUNE 13 — A friend lost her brother, some days past.
I spoke of her loss with another mutual friend and the latter asked me, “Why?”
Death should be something we’re used to, something we grow to expect and yet, when it happens, the ones left behind to mourn struggle with the feeling of loss and again, the question: “Why?”
All I could say to my friend was this:
“Some people just aren’t meant to stay long in this world. His death reminded us just how we should live.”
It’s easy for us to lose track of the things that should matter, chasing all the things that don’t.
Sometimes you need to remember that you can find money, but you can’t replace family.
Sometimes you should put aside that remote control and think about creating something more enduring than another Astro bill.
Sometimes it’s worth it to be up at 4am in the morning, finishing your column because you spent the hours before that celebrating the birthday of a friend who will be leaving the country for three years.
Sometimes it takes the loss of someone who you didn’t know meant something to you to get you to realise that your priorities are all wrong.
Sometimes you just need to be grateful that the person was in your life at all.
Sometimes, you just need a reminder. This column is mine.
* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist