Yahoo! Answers Blog Malaysia

Last Friday I received a happy sms, a friend of mine just gave birth to a baby girl! And the very next day, I received another one from an ex-colleague, who had just given birth to a baby boy. Both are very, happy news. But I guess in life, if there’s birth of life, there’s also death. Yesterday I attended the funeral of an ex-colleague’s mom. And tonight will be another funeral, of a dear friend’s mom. Both mothers passed away due to illnesses.

(Photo many thanks to Kervinchong)

A friend of mine said upon hearing the news, “I feel mortal”. I think that’s true. When we are healthy and young, we feel that we can achieve anything and that we will never get old or fall sick. Eat fastfood everyday? Sure! We’re young and can work off the fats and cholesterol. Surely we won’t get any heart attacks or need any by-pass surgeries. Smoke and drink and sleep in the wee hours of the morning? Sure! I’m young, I’ll never get lung cancer and my energy levels are still very high. But when we are faced with death, we then remember again that life is unpredictable. It doesn’t matter if we are young, old or in-between. Age doesn’t matter to death.

How then should we make life more meaningful? I think the way to do so is firstly, love yourself. Only when we learn to love ourselves, we will be able to love others. And secondly, keep the passion to learn alive. I feel that having a healthy curiosity and a willingness to learn can make us more vibrant and interested in our life and our surroundings. This in turn makes our lives richer and more fulfilled. So let’s go forth and celebrate new life and let’s keep on learning!