Imagine that on the 2nd day of Raya, you’ve just reached your relatives’ home for the festivities and you’re super excited as it’s been a while since you last saw them. As you reach out for their hands to pay your respects, suddenly everything around you – your home, your vehicles and even your pets and relatives – bursts into flames. Everything happened so quickly in the blink of an eye, and you don’t even know if you’re alive or dead, but you’ve lost everything in that split second, even your loved ones and all your material possessions. Sounds like a nightmare, doesn’t it?
This was exactly what the citizens living in Putra Heights experienced on the morning of the second day of Raya this year, when a Petronas-owned gas pipeline suddenly exploded in the area. The initial explosion was massive, forming a giant mushroom cloud that could be seen from several kilometers away. It’s truly by luck and God’s grace that no lives were lost in the incident, while there are unfortunately over 100+ citizens reportedly injured with burns.
This incident once again highlights the fragility of life – where everything you have at this point of time, could be taken away from you in a split second. Your house, your car, your money, and even yourself, could be lost without being able to salvage anything. One moment you’re finally taking some time off to spend with your family, and the next, that was the last moment you’ll ever spend with them.
As adults, our day-to-day commitments and long-term goals keep us at work and hence, we take for granted the people around us and the moments we have, thinking that we’ll have a lifetime to love and make it up to them when we’re successful. We delay our gratification, thinking that we’ll have time later to catch up on what we’ve lost in the pursuit of making a living. The pipeline explosion came as a shock to many at how suddenly it happened and is a stark reminder of how easy it is to lose everything in a moment.
If there’s one learning we should all take away from this incident (besides maybe not purchasing property near any gas pipelines), is that we should not delay spending time with our loved ones and to hold those around us a little closer every day. We shouldn’t wait for special occasions to spend time together and share words of affection but take it slowly and bit-by-bit everyday to express our love, gratitude and care to those around us. We might not have a chance nor time in the future to share these moments that we’ve missed out on.
While chasing goals is the key to unlocking your dream life, don’t forget to invest in yourself and enhance the quality and meaning of your own personal life. Don’t let your life be just a routine of 9-to-5 and 5-to-9s, as this will pass you by quicker than you realize. Before your time is up, and we don’t even know when that is, take the time to do what you need to do to add meaning and fulfilment into your life – this is something only you can do. Others can walk alongside you in your life, but no one can live it for you. Love yourself, appreciate your life before it’s gone.
Life is indeed truly fragile and can be taken away without even a moment’s notice, and we’ll always be reminded of this for all the following Raya celebrations to come.
C Chai is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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