If there is one thing that I'm really, really good at, it's that I empathize with people easily (sometimes maybe a little too easily - that's why I cry so easily at random movies and stupid chick flicks!) I think empathy comes somewhat naturally to me because I constantly ask myself this question: "What would I think / feel / do if it were ME?"
This morning, as I was doing my usual "getting-ready" routine at work (i.e. soy latte + croissant + gmail + facebook), I stumbled upon a note written by a friend on FB. His friend's fiancé has passed away after a year-long battle with leukemia. The couple found out about the disease just after they had decided to get married one year ago. The wedding didn't happen as planned, but the two shared a brave, loving, and touching journey before parting was forced upon them.
I don't know the couple at all, but you can imagine my reaction as I read the note, as "What would I think / feel / do if it were me?" echoed in my mind: I had to fight against every urge to cry like a mofo in front of my work laptop (and hence look like a crazy woman to all the co-workers sitting around me).
So there I was, sitting at my desk, my mind a state of blankness except for the unnerving thought of "what if the same happened to me?". I love myself, my current life, and I am surrounded by people who love me and whom I love -- but all these can be taken away, any minute, without prior warning. To think about death, its unavoidable eventuality, and the fact that it may be lurking anywhere, anytime, both scares and humbles me. It's at moments like this that I remember why clichés are clichés and cheesy lines are cheesy -- it's precisely because they're true: Tell those you love you love them, cherish what you have, carpe diem... so cliché, so cheesy, yet so true.
That's why I wanted to leave this note (in English no less) -- because today is one of those days, when I am reminded of what is the most important to me, and feel utterly grateful. I hope I will never lose sight of that.
