Thinking Death

I could not stop thinking about the girl who fell off the cliffs last Friday. All of us in the house had heard the blaring sirens of the ambulance and rescue chopper the night before, and little did we know a life has been taken away at the very moment.

Even though I understand how calamity takes place all the time everywhere all over the world. The nearness of the tragedy to our place, the real-time of its incident, our hapless ignorance, and helplessness of the situation - reminds me initially of what Bill Bryson wrote in Down Under about the land’s notoriety - its dry and hot desert, its poisonous snakes and spiders, its shark and saltwater crocodile, or in our case, its high and rocky cliffs.

It makes me think, too, about the seemingly random ways death and fate pay a visit to each and everyone of us. It could’ve been me, it could’ve been anyone I know.

I thought about the girl’s last moment, the time she spent, the people she thought of. I wonder how other lives could go on when another life has stopped. I wonder at the unbearable pain suffered by those who loved her and how it could be healed again.

Questions plague me, and all I can do is pray for the girl to rest in peace. Ameen.