An opinion piece by Ling Sing Lin
Why so morbid? I feel we need to be reminded that death is a part of life. It happens to all of us.
The more spiritual a life a person leads, the less afraid he is of death ——Leo Tolstoy
To the well organised mind, death is but the next great adventure —— JK Rowling
Death of a Loved one is always a shock
Even though you think you have steeled yourself for a loved one’s death, when it comes, it still gives you a shock to the system. It appears to be very sudden, very unsettling. I feel that it is not possible to fully mentally and emotionally prepare for the loss.
Even a beloved pet’s death, sometimes through euthanasia, is traumatic.
What can we do then?
We can prepare for our own death.
- Never postpone a good deed which you can do now.
- Live deeply, fully and purposefully, for it is not the length of life but the depth of life that is important (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
- All endings bring new beginnings and opportunities to reflect on life. When we are faced with the deaths especially of loved ones, we become more introspective and pause to reflect on our own lives. We try to know ourselves better. Busyness has distracted us from living our lives meaningfully.
- Live in the present moment. At different times of our lives, we have different ‘seasons’. Accept the season of your life. The autumn of your life is lived very differently from the spring and summer of your life.
- In our final moments, we realise that relationships are what life is about. Learn this sooner than later
- The joy of living is the ultimate goal of life’s journey
- To live well and to die well is to know you have made a difference to the people around you
- Exploit the good and avoid the bad.
I have lost four family members (my mum, my younger brother, my dad, and my younger sister, in that order). Three were what I consider premature deaths, dying before their expected life expectancies, with only my dad passing on at age 96. It was painful, every single time.
If you have not already done so, I suggest you read a previous post of mine, Finishing Well.

Falling Leaves in a Storm
Although death strikes the old far more than the young, no age group is spared. The account related by Ajahn Brahm, a British-Australian Theravada Buddhist monk, using a Thai parable about experiencing a storm in a forest, describes death at different ages so well.
When the storm of death blows through families, they usually take the old ones — the mottled brown leaves. They also take some middle-aged yellow leaves. Young people die too, in the prime of their lives — similar to green leaves. And sometimes a small number of young children, the young shoots, also die. This is the nature of things. Who can blame the storm?
Different Perspective of Death
What a caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly (Richard Bach).
Biblical Perspective
Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory? —- 1 Corinthians 15:55
This Bible verse refers to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which results in the redemption of mankind. In other words, death is not the end. We will rise again.