To live is to die and to laugh is to cry.
A friend from my JPA batch at INTI, Boon Jim, who got into Cornell (as mentioned in a previous post), passed away last week, in his room. Due to accidental/natural causes (not suicide, no foul play).
Read that his body was flown back to Malaysia and will be buried today.
I'm sad for him. I'm sad for his family. It's only been 2 months since he came to USA, life's just started! I think his parents really sayang him, coz I always see them with him during US app events.
Also scared for myself and other friends here in a foreign country. This is the first time someone so close to my age, who I personally know, that has passed away. I never ever expected this. I'm not particularly close to Boon Jim, but I definitely knew him, shared a few classes with him (Calculus 1, Sociology, Chem 101, Malaysian Studies), laughed at him when he was so afraid when he was coming down from flying fox(?) during BTN camp. He really worked hard to make it into Cornell. I never managed to ask him what kind of anime he watches.
Grateful that I'm in a double room now. Grateful for my roommate Natalia (gotta make more effort to get to know her). Must be more careful. Inform a friend whenever I go anywhere.
Don't want my parents to taste this kind of grief. There's a saying that goes like: It is a blessing for a father to be buried by his son, rather than have to bury his son. Morbid, but I agree.
When life is good, love it. When life is hard, embrace it tightly so that we won't lose it. Death comes to all things; it is the natural course of life. Death is also necessary so that we won't crowd the earth for new life to grow. But in general, we hope that death won't come too soon. We want to live life to the fullest, long and robust. Actually a meaningful life can be achieved early in life, if we try hard enough. If we can do everything we wanted to before we die, that would be so wonderful! I'm sure we wouldn't mind dying then. But if life were cut short- at the beginning? right when we felt so full of life? Is it fair? If death is a natural course of life, do we have the right to feel cheated?
There have been so many unfair, unjust deaths in the world. Wars, bloodshed, murder, fire, starvation. At the very least, I hope my friend was fortunate enough to have died in peace.
Rest in peace. God bless you. And may God console your parents and all who are grieving for you.
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