Contemplating A Friend’s Departure
Funeral wakes for departed friends always inject a sense of loss, a melancholy mood, even a state of suspended animation inside me. It was no different after Andy’s funeral mass which was held at 5.30pm at St. Theresa church this evening.
Andy – His Recent Pose
Not wanting to go straight home after the mass, I decided to drive up Mount Faber to have a drink, a simple meal and some quiet contemplation. The view towards the sea across to Sentosa island was calming. Life seems to come to a standstill except for the cable cars. They kept moving in perfect unison, with one line moving away from me and the other coming closer towards me.
Going Away & Coming Back In An Endless Loop
Like the cable cars, life comes and goes – endlessly. We say hellos and goodbyes to friends, family members and acquaintances too – hopefully with more hellos than goodbyes. But that is beyond our control.
A Toast To My Friend & Simple Meal
When I first came to work in Singapore, a few of us rented a semi-detached house in Bedok Road. With just a wire fence separation and directly behind our rented home was where Andy, his wife and two daughters lived. We both worked in the Engineering division of the most-admired Singaporean company. He was very helpful and on more than one occasion, helped me and my friends to settle in.
Now is this, my next part of my story, pure coincidence or providence? Two weeks ago, I received a message on Facebook from Andy’s daughter Bernadette. That was the 11th of May. She introduced herself as Andy’s younger daughter. After some message exchanges, I said that I would like to pay a visit to her parents after my trip to Kuala Lumpur.
Life Is Fragile, Handle With Prayer
I returned from KL on Thursday, the 22nd of May. And on Sunday morning, the 25th of May I received a message from Bernadette informing me that her Dad was called home to The Lord. I had not followed my own dictum – to do first things first.
“So, think about this long and hard. Are there things you’d like to change? For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged.”
~ From a poem by Linda Ellis, The Dash
Steven, I can relate to how you felt. You and I have reached the stage of seeing and learning about more and more of the people we know crossing over to the spiritual dimension. May be that’s what take to heighten our sense of gratitude and our wisdom about life! Everything is possible with the lapse of every second …. 🙂
Thank you Edward for your fitting comments. This line is one that I read when I was 14 or 15 year-young ~ “To STRIVE, to SEEK, to FIND, and NOT TO YIELD”. It was poignant because Robert Falcon Scott wrote these words as his last entry before he perished due to starvation and extreme cold. His quest was to be the first man to reach the South Pole. I never knew who actually wrote those words nor where they came from.
Years later, actually during my final year in engineering, I learnt that it was an oft-quoted line from Ulysses, a poem written by Lord Alfred Tennyson. The line was my first inspirational quote, and Tennyson was included in my list of favourite poets.
And now when we are older, this stanza I wish to share:
‘TIS NOT TOO LATE TO SEEK A BETTER WORLD – – –
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die….
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To STRIVE, to SEEK, to FIND, and NOT TO YIELD’