Death the Reaper

Death is the great leveller, the one who comes to take us away to a better place, but to face the journey into the unknown is not always easy and the death of those whom we know always makes us pause.

Death's shadow is hanging over my uncle's mother and took one of my former bosses just last week. Her death was a shock to all who had worked with her as she'd died of stomach cancer but had told very few people. She was a 40-something year old woman with three children and normally a fighter, vibrant and full of life.

It made me treasure the place I used to work in even more when I saw the reactions of all the people who'd worked with her. Several of them flew up to Penang, Malaysia to attend the wake and of course brought contributions for the funeral with them from all of us.

It was a moment to pause and take stock of life, to wonder if we'd been present enough to each other in our daily lives, and to whether we'd loved each other enough while we still could.

Maybe these moments will change our lives maybe not, but I think for many of us, we were touched by her life, the joy of her presence, both at times when we may have been annoyed with her and those times when we were inspired by her. It made me reflect that very often, the most precious gift we can give to each other is simply our presence and our love. And at death, nothing is more precious than the sharing of grief through our presence. That's what it all really starts and ends with, our presence, and in gathering this we share life, love and joy.

I hope for me that such events continues to inspire me to be more aware of how much I need to appreciate all the moments, both the highlights as well as the ordinary moments I get to share with each of the people I know in this life.