Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Life is so... Unpredictable


Uncertainty - Isn’t that the only certainty in life?
Did someone say that? 
Is it a quote? If not, it should be.
During the past few weeks I came across two situations which made me think truer words have never been spoken.
The first was about a father in Moratuwa who accidentally ran over his wife and daughter. He was using a new vehicle which had automatic acceleration which he was unfamiliar with.  He ended up crashing on to a wall of his house. Sadly his wife and daughter were behind that wall and both of them got crushed. The father who was unaware who was behind the wall  only saw the mother injured mother and rushed her to hospital without realizing that there was another wounded person he was leaving behind. It was only a neighbor who discovered the daughter and rushed her to hospital after pulling her out. But it was too late as the girl was suffering from internal bleeding and she died a couple of days later.  Even though the daughter was unconscious most of the time she had her consciousness for a few minutes and told the father that she was not angry with him. The wife survived the ordeal and is out of hospital.
The last time I heard of them things were not too good between the husband and wife. And the father was going crazy with grief and blame and trying to commit suicide. Who can blame him? I would do the same if I were him. I would rather be dead than live the rest of my life knowing that the responsibility of my daughter’s death is in my hand.
The second situation was a trainer from the gym I go to. He and his wife were coming to Colombo from the girls parent’s house in Gampaha at 3.30 in the morning on a motor cycle. And they ended up being involved in some kind of motor cycling accident - of which I don’t know the 100% accurate details – and she died on the spot.
They were married for less than a year and were a beautiful couple. They had lots of hopes about the future. And all of that just vanished into thin air in just a few seconds.
I met her husband today and all I saw was an empty and broken man with a faraway look in his eyes. The worst part was there was nothing I could say to him to make him feel better. To give him a little comfort. Can I say everything will be alright? That she is better off now that she is dead like I would to someone who had lost someone who was extremely sick. Or could I make some kind of insensitive joke like I usually do even though it is not appropriate? In the end I  ended up doing none of the above. Just gave him a silent look of empathy and a tap on the shoulder. And we both knew there was nothing else to be said.

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