new year reflection

One day you see a man, the next day you see a corpse. The man who spoke with you, laughed with you, had a cup of coffee with you and impressed you with his jovial laughter is gone. He's turned to dust. Worm food, so they say. Where has the life gone? Is there a battery within each of us, that one day just runs out of power, and the body stops operating? Are we all just corpses, walking around, with our batteries just waiting to expire?


The new year is ushered in with a sense of solemnity. Amidst the ruckus and the merrymaking, some people are aware of their own human frailty. The years that have passed us by, they continue to trail behind. Just like the lamp poles and lines on the road, while we pass them by. They come from afar, and for a brief fleeting moment, they are near to us. And yet one blink later, they are far behind us, going further and further out into the horizon. We move on. We anticipate new things. Yet we hope not to forget the things which have happened, those things which mean deeply to us. It is because of our experiences that we improve, and we continually keep learning about Life. Regardless of the bitter and the sad, it is because of those times that we realise, how lucky we are. And we learn, having moved on, that life is all too fleeting, and must be cherished.


Every moment in the embrace of the unending cacophony of Life -- gives a giddying joy, that we are alive. We must be aware of the Life that happens all around us. Indeed we are strange creatures, urbanites who choose to remain alone, aloof, and estranged from the potential many hundreds of friends that we could make! Life is meant to be shared, not journeyed alone. Life is meant to spread happiness, and it is only when we live Life meaningfully that we are able to look back at all our non-successes and say, "Yes, I did not make it at times, but at least, I tried."


For one day, we will be that man. Laughing, talking, chatting with friends; having a smoke after a sumptuous dinner, and thinking that this is the Life: and yet, in the night when we sleep, an angel comes and pulls away the soul from the body, and says, "Your time is up, it is time to go elsewhere." Where is that place? It is hard to say for sure, as nobody has gone and come back with pictures and recordings. Yet we believe, strangely, that something as beautiful as Life cannot end abruptly; we long to believe that Life must go on, even though Death must come. But that is strange, because we accept our mortality and yet deny that Death is the end-all.


Surely then, the best way to live with this is to accept our mortality, and remember, daily, that we are nothing if our lives suddenly ended at the very next moment; and so, we should live our lives to the fullest, knowing that each day is a blessing; and the blessings that we have are meant for us to cherish. We cannot expect our children to carry on our lives; nor do we hope to be the living embodiment of our parents' continued, undying lives. We must live, we must move on, we must embrace the reality of our mortality, and seek the happiness that goes along with it.


Happy New Year 2006.... Goodbye 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002... and 2001. May you ever live in my heart. I will not forget what joy and happiness we have shared. I will not forget the pain that I've caused. I will not forget. But I must move on. As must you.