Living, Leaving, Dying, Parting (生离死别) VIII

DBS CEO, Richard Stanley died on Sat-11/4. Mrs Morris died on Sat-11/4. Richard Stanley died indirectly of cancer-leukemia. He was undergoing treatment for that when his body caught an infection and he died due to the infection. I don't know what Mrs Morris died of but she'd cancer too and was taking a lot of drugs for that when she was alive.

When I learnt of Mrs Morris' death on Sun, I'd informed Ster. She wanted to go for Mrs Morris' wake but she'd wanted to do some work on Sun. I do know she's busy. Yesterday night, when Ster came over for the wake, it was over. Mrs Morris was cremated yesterday late afternoon. Ster said had she known, she'd have come over on Sun. I find it ironic that people say "If I'd known this, I'd have done that". It is only when things have happened that we can say that. If things hadn't happened the way they did, can we still say "If I'd known"? Of course we can't! We wouldn't have known anything. How can we know when someone will die? We don't even know when we'll die for that matter.

Felt sad for Ster because she was close to Mrs Morris. Ster checked the obituary page in the papers and we found out that she was cremated yesterday. Ster said not being able to attend the wake is 她一生的遗憾。Ster could only cut out the obituary notice of Mrs Morris in the papers and keep it away quietly. Since Richard Stanley didn't know us, we left the Richard Stanley photo in the obituary page of the papers.

Ster made me realize that we should cherish our loved ones. Work should never take precedence over our loved ones. If we give work priority, when we turn around, we'll find that the time for us to spend with our loved ones is gone. Perhaps, even the person is gone. In Ster's case, she couldn't even see Mrs Morris one last time. It is a scary thought when you think of how you can't see your loved ones for the last time.

Mrs Morris' death also reminded me of something. When I speak to people about Mrs Morris, I say she's a nice person, I talk of how she helped out in the schools, of what a kind soul she is. I asked myself then how I want to die. What do you want people to remember you for? What is the legacy you're going to leave behind?