You Will Be Missed

"Kesat air mata. Ku mahu kau senyum seperti bunga menguntum," Kasihan by Hujan.

Earlier today, while I was out with my family at Padang Besar and trying to have the most fun a guy with no money and a camera could have at a place like that, I received a text message from a friend.

"Sahabat kita, A, telah meninggal dunia pagi tadi kerana asma.. Al-Fatihah buat Allahyarham.."

My first reaction was, "A? Innalillaahi wainnaailaihi raaji'uun (From Allah we came and to Allah we will go back to)", and proceeded to recite the al-Fatihah, while having A's face in mind. But that was left at that and then I went on minding my own business.

Then I received the same text from another friend of mine. Then another. Then another. I read them and did nothing but put my phone back into my pocket. The place was really crowded, so I could hardly hear myself think. Thus, I just went with the current of people minding their own business, looking for stuff to buy.

Taken from http://images.businessweek.com

Several moments after the last text message, another friend called me. A was from Terengganu. This friend, S, is from Terengganu. He asked if I knew, and I said I did. He said he was visiting the family of the deceased person in question, I just nodded and asked him a few questions about some details, then ended our conversation.

After hanging up, I imagined S going to see A's body, and how he would react. My eyes immediately welled up and I had to stop in my tracks to wipe away the sudden tears. They came uninvited, unexpected, but, at the end of the day, totally welcome. I'm sure the people who were walking right behind me were thankful that they didn't run into me, and while passing me gave me the stink eye, but at that moment, the whole world didn't matter to me. What mattered was the realisation that A, a senior, a College-mate, a block-mate, a Student Council-mate, a FRIEND, was no longer with us. I couldn't smile for the rest of the day.

Taken from evonseah.blogspot.com

You see, what finally got to me was the suddenness of it all. He started his day, I imagine, not much differently from all of us. We woke up, as he must have, had our breakfast, like he would have, and went on with our day without ever thinking that anything would happen to us, until they happen to us. And when they happen to us, we might not fully realise that, hey, that thing that happened to us, THAT'S FATE. And that was was what happened to my friend, A. Fate.

You can't run away from fate. If fate says that you'll bite your lip today, you WILL bit your lip today. Even if that's the last thing on your mind, even if that's the least favourite thing that could happen to you and you would do anything in your power to stop it from happening, you WILL bite your lip. And I have. Same goes with death. You die when you die. No questions asked. No age limit required. It doesn't matter if you're 71 or 17, you'll die when you die.

Taken from http://cdn.92q.com

The question is, will you be ready when it's your time to go?

My friends,

A was 22 years old. Twenty-two. Pretty young in anybody's book. He hadn't even started working yet. He hadn't even finished his studies. He had just finished his 6th semester in the Teacher's Training Institute for crying out loud, and 2010 was a very good year for him. He had just finished a whole term as the Student Council Treasurer, part of the Student Council team dubbed "the best we've had in years" by a lot of people. Nobody in their right mind would say that it would be the end of the road for our dear A. Alas, he was to go, and nothing could stop it from happening.

Taken from grumblingdwarf.com

The question is, will you be ready when it's your time to go?

In my memory, A was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. He always greeted you with a smile, even if you didn't always smile back. He was a smart-looking, soft-spoken, dedicated and overall good guy. I don't think anyone would have anything bad to say about this friend of ours. Even yours truly, who didn't get the chance to really get close to him, knew enough about him to be able to trust him with anything. I was able to observe him from Student Council meetings and jobs, from trips to the Surau (he frequented it way more than I did), from the field (he always had these cool Adidas shirts on), from the Amra block (he was always smiling and getting other people to join him smiling), from passing through the Student Hall (that was his study spot for the exam period), and others. And earlier today, he was to be no more.

The question is, will you be ready when it's your time to go?

Will I be ready when it's MY time to go?