Funeral #1

After attending a wake yesterday, I thought of writing about the sick and the dead. Attending a wake is something "pantang" to the older generation and much more to me since I was afraid of ghost. Nevertheless, upon accepting Christ, I feel free and I do visitations in the hospital or attend wakes when there is the need of it. It’s a blessing indeed because the blessed shall console those who are in pain.

Just imagine, you’re lying in the sick bed in the hospital and most of your friends did not come to visit you just because they "pantang" to visit people in the hospital. I had dengue fever days before my SPM and then, was admitted into the hospital on the second day of SPM. No friends came to visit me. Well, first of all, it may be SPM but then again, it could be the pantang-larang thing.

Lying on the sick bed, enduring the pain of the needles and lack of appetite…the feeling of loneliness…and waiting for time to heal…or die…that is the creepiest part of life! It is during this time that someone needs CARE! LOVE! CONCERN! Where are all the friends?

The first wake that I attended after my father’s death was a wake for a lady in her fifties. She had breast cancer. Her children were crying profusely when they knew of the death that would swallow their mother. But when they saw how much of pain that their mother had to endure, they understood that leaving might be the best choice, after all.

Thank God and I praise Lord for giving my dad a peaceful death and a most respected wake. When he was younger, he had many friends. But when he was sick, so sick that he could not perform any more work to help his friends, they were all gone with the wind. Only a few friends visited him. He felt lonely. He felt remorseful. Those people whom he deemed as his "BUDDY" did not turn up. Instead, people from my church and his church came to visit him often, so often that he cried tears of joy to see them. He knew it was God’s love. He knew that is LOVE, unconditional love…

When we were preparing the seats for guests to attend dad’s wake, mom said, "Don’t put so many chairs. It might be obvious when all of the chairs are empty." So, we put only a few rows of chairs. But it ended up that we had more guests than we’d expected. Even my first uncle was touched and said to my Reverend, "I’ve never attended a wake with so many people. Chinese seldom attend a wake. Thank you so much." This is LOVE.

We have no choice over life or death. But we have a choice to care or leave…