Rest In Peace

As I start updating myself with the news after two of my shiong-est papers have ended, the story about the demise of the 5 dragon-boaters caught my attention.
I was aware of the mishap but didn't make it a point to read up on the latest articles about it.
Until 30min ago, after catching 2 episodes of HERO did i decide to head for channelnewsasia.com to find out more about this incident... ...

Initially, I was only reading article after article about how the whole incident happened and came to know that their bodies were brought back to Singapore and that there will be a combined funeral for these 5 late dragon-boaters....
I happened to chance across a blog that was dedicated to Jeremy Goh, one of the late dragon-boaters: http://rememberingjerbroni.blogspot.com/

I was looking thru all the photos and comments that his friends and loved ones posted.
The photos looked just like any other photo that you and I would have taken when hanging out with our good friends and families... The places that he's been to.. you and I can relate totally as well... Especially to friends out there who are around my age, there will be greater relation as this is the typical kind of Singaporean-teen/young-adult lifestyle and those are the usual hangout places that we head to.
It was then when I realised how REAL the whole thing is...
Sometimes, when you tune in to the news and hear about mishaps etc... you tend to feel sad for a period of time and get over it after awhile. However, after looking at the pictures and the posts on the blog, it really hit me....

about how important my family is to me
about how special each and everyone of my friend is to me
that i should cherish every single person who has been with me since i was born...
about how vulnerable life can be....
like how jeremy was just like any normal youngster like you and i, receiving tertiary education, attending lectures, attempting to skip lectures, craving for leisure, having fun with a group of good friends...

more importantly, it made me reflect.
about how i could have been neglected some people in my life who deserve much more of my time.
and i feel really sorry about that.

i don't see why people are only being honoured after their demise.

It doesn't take alot for us to offer each other words of praise, does it?
Neither does it require alot of effort to tell our loved ones how much we actually love and cherish them and tell them how important they are in our lives...
i don't want to say all these only after i can't tell them personally.
to me, it doesn't make anymore sense if the person himself/herself can't get to hear what you want to say....
It's the whole face to face thing that makes what you want to say genuine and meaningful as the person is able to hear you say it from your very own mouth...

Somehow, this incident has left me with many thoughts that has brought me back to the facts of life...

To the 5 dragon boaters:
Though many of us out here do not know you guys personally, we're glad to know that you're safe in the house of the Lord. You guys have been able to fulfill the passion within you in dragon boating. You've been doing what you always wanted to do.
For now, rest in peace.