I lost a colleague today.

After struggling for the last forty over hours, he finally passed away. He will be journeying to the kingdom of heaven, and lead eternal life.

Work will never be the same again. The void that he has left in the department will always remain. He will be remembered: as the cheerful chap will always crack a joke bring joy to the department; as the hardworking fellow who toils at his work to achieve results; as the selfless person who always thinks about others; or simply as himself, whom we have all come to love in the past year together.

The tears can never wash away our memories.

A colleague got into an accident today; his condition was critical. Spent a major part of the day at the hospital today, trying to console and encourage the family members.

The family must be feeling terrible. They had just lost one member not too long ago; and now another is hanging by the thread. I could see the pain in the eyes of his mum and sister: shaken and broken. The lost of kin is painful. And they might be faced with the decision if they need pull the plug hours later, if his conditions don't improve... We empathise, but we can never share the torment of having to choose the death for a close one.

For many of us, this was a rude shock. We have always talked about the fragility of life, but this might be the first witnessing of the brittleness for many. Just a day ago, we were joking and laughing about the frivolities of living, and now we are sitting outside the care unit praying hard that Hades would relent and grant him an extension in lease. One colleague was so gripped with anxiety that he was down with a panic attack. The notion of what if the one lying down was him sent him pale, gasping for breath...

Perhaps we were all there not only to provide emotional support to his family, but to treasure the union that we share. The close company tides us out of the traumatisation we faced.

Keep him in your prayers.

I always feel sad about going to a wake. It reminds me of the fragility of life. Especially when I hear how the recently deceased showed no precusory signs to death; I could barely imagined how anyone could bear to leave the loved ones behind.

It may have not been a matter of choice.