The whole of Malaysia was shocked to the brim when news of the AmBank shooting hit social media last Wednesday. Gory pictures and CCTV footage of the incident went viral, spreading like wildfire across Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and et cetera for the next few days.
Apparently, a female bank officer was killed in cold blood with a single shot to the face. The murderer was a wielding a shotgun, and the alarming thing, he was actually a security guard at a neighbouring bank, who continued to rob the bank and escaped with a huge sum of cash.
However, the most disheartening part of the whole incident was 63 minutes before she was murdered; she called her husband to ask what any wife/girlfriend/partner would do,
“Do you still love me?”
Sadly, the husband was behind the wheels, told her he was unable to talk at that point and hung up. His reply, after finding that his beloved wife had passed away, made the headlines of major newspapers nationwide,
“I should have told her I loved her there and then. Now it’s too late.”
Darn these newspapers for haunting my life with those words. Hit me right in the gut. How many times have I allowed my life to pass without thinking that any moment could very well be my last? Life was too precious, and too short, which inspired me to start accomplishing the following before time runs out:
(1) Dishing out the Love
Especially if they are your partner/family/ goldfish/buddies/neighbour-who’s-child-is-super-noisy-on-Sunday-morning-yet-give-you-homebaked-raisinbuns-to-make-it-up. Call them, go on Skype, talk on Viber, leave a message on Wechat, anything!
It does not help that being Asian and a guy, it was super tough to openly declare and tell my mom how much I love her . I was finding a less awkward way to tell my mom I loved her over the phone. Yes, it was kinda weird, but in the end, it won’t matter how many followers I have on Instagram, or the macho tough guy act I was trying to pull.
Cliché as it is, love is the only thing that matters in our final minutes, and to be surrounded by those whom we love and love us back unconditionally. That itself, is a greater reward than to have a million followers on Twitter.
3 simple words can make all the difference – “I love you”, “Come, let’s chill”, “I miss you”. These are so much better than “It’s too late”.
(2) Stop dreaming and actually do something about it
Procrastination is like smoking a cigarette. It feels good during the first few puffs, but I will be cursing those little rolled up buggers when I realized I need to climb up a few flight of stairs soon after. Similarly, delaying our dreams may somewhat makes us feel like we are going to live forever, but one day, we are going to wake up and realize that it is all too late.
Be it from starting that fashion blog, running a marathon, skydiving, becoming a citizen of the world, or getting in shape, know this: there is no perfect timing. That ideal situation you are constantly waiting will never arise.
We might say, “I’m waiting for a sign”. Well, the fact that we are breathing and reading this, and possibly with a frothy mug of teh tarik peng at our side, are all the signs that we need. Carpe Diem!
(3) Spring cleaning – Life Edition
This is a tricky one. Sometimes, we are so used to the clutter in our life that it appears to be perfectly normal. A beautiful mess, we might say (insert posh British accent). Well, we couldn’t be more wrong. If we knew we will cease to exist in 63 minutes, will we still be fighting over the color of our iPhone covers?
Everyone’s definition of clutter can be different. It could be our addiction to hopeless relationships, trying so hard to impress a particular person who does not even give a hoot, or it could even be our own peers whose life greatly resemble an episode of Modern Family.
Regardless of which, we know our own devils. The sooner we rid ourselves of them, the better off we are without them.
It is morbid to have an epiphany following from one of the most horrific murder in Malaysia this year. But I guess that only in death, do we realize the fragility of life, and it is never too late to start living.
P.S To the family of the victim, may God grants eternal rest upon her soul, and may He give you strength to pull through this difficult time.
Read also: What are the most difficult things people have to learn in their twenties?
