Live Each Day Like It’s Our Last

A couple of days ago, a girlfriend called to tell me that an acquaintance of mine, who’s also her business associate, passed away in his sleep the night before. He’s my age, just got married and was rapidly moving up the corporate ladder. My girlfriend then went on to tell me that a few months ago, she got a shock when she found out that a girlfriend of hers suddenly died too. Except that for this case, her friend had cancer but didn’t disclose this to anyone other than her family. This friend of hers was apparently very affluent and married with beautiful children and a loving husband. My girlfriend finally concluded the conversation with a statement, “these people have very ‘pai miah’ (tough/hard life) hor?”

So I guess if our lives were suddenly interrupted by illnesses that required hospitalisation, surgery or long-term treatments, we’d think that our quality of life would cease to exist. So I would also suppose that having undergone a rather traumatic surgery 2 years ago to treat a recurring medical condition, and subsequently having to visit the hospital once every 4 to 6 months for check-ups that are extremely dreadful and uncomfortable, would mean my life as being ‘pai miah’? Maybe I should start indulging in self-pity and cry now?

It bugs me sometimes when people these days still have such a secular perspective of what constitutes to a good life.

If that acquaintance of mine who had passed on in his sleep had been a loving husband to his new wife, a caring and filial son to his parents, a supportive brother to his sibling(s) and a sincere and true friend to his peers, I’d say there’s nothing tough or hard about his life. He had simply appreciated everything that he had and had led a full life.

Similarly, if my girlfriend’s friend had always taken everything for granted because of her extravagant lifestyle before she was diagnosed with cancer and since then turned her life around to be grateful for the smallest and simplest things in her life, I’d say she’s more fortunate than most of us because she would have edified at least one person in her life to appreciate the true spirit of life beyond superficial beauty, popularity or status.

So instead of having to wait for a misfortunate to strike us or the pre-mature demise of a loved one or someone within our social circle before we’re able to value the essence of life, why don’t we now live each day like it’s our last? What would we have done differently if today’s our last? Would we have been rude to our nagging mothers before we left home this morning? Would we have cursed at a road hog under our breaths? Would we have shouted at a supplier for making a late delivery? Would we have bitched about how incompetent a colleague was to another colleague? Were our last words to our spouses this morning “I’m gonna be working late tonight, so don’t wait up for me.”? Is this how we want to live the last day of our lives? I hope not.