A Twist of Fate

Dear Diary,

A cousin’s wedding in Kuala Lipis was the ending to a series of activities for school break recently. Thus, Lipis was our destination last Sunday. The buffet spread (which includes patin masak tempoyak of course!) was very delicious, the company was pleasant and the ceremony was joyous. However, the wedding was not my topic actually. The following is what I want to share with all of you…

On the way back to KL, we witnessed an accident right before our eyes. It happened in just a split second, a moment of carelessness with a tragic end. Whoever has used KL-Lipis road knows how dangerous it is to the road users especially to the villagers who live along the road.

Two boys, aged around 4-5 years and 8-9 years old, wanted to cross the road but only one made it safely to other side. The younger one got hit by a van which was a few vehicles in front of us. All the cars were fast including ours which was driven by my brother in law. At around 100km/hour, it was fast I guess. Mind you, we were not on highway. This is trunk road (jalan lama) to Lipis.

I saw with my two eyes the little boy’s head jerked a bit before his body lying lifeless on the road with blood coming out of his nose and ears. I saw a pool of blood under his head. Heck, I can still see his tiny body in my mind as I’m writing this entry. The elder boy stood beside in shock. Maybe he was still trying to grasp what had just transpired.

My heart goes out to the little boy and his family. Imagine the little boy’s parents who are somewhere (maybe relaxing at home on a Sunday evening) not knowing what had happened to their child. Imagine how great a shock would be to them. Imagine the mother’s feelings upon receiving the news. Hubby told me if it was his child, he’d be wailing with tears. Meraung was his exact word!

Imagine the elder boy’s trauma. In such a tender age, he would have to deal with a harsh reality. Losing a friend or a brother maybe in that manner; worse still, the accident took place with him as one of the possible victims. Should he feel lucky or guilty?

On the other side of the coin, the van driver with hands in his hair looked utterly distraught. His wife was crying hysterically in the passenger seat. Put ourselves in his shoes. I cringed inside thinking how he (and his wife) must have felt as he too has kids inside the van, much like the boy he hit.

All the way home, I was hugging all of my children (yes, all three of them!) tightly with tears streaming down my cheeks and the little boy’s image in my head. I’m penning this down not with an intention to blame anybody. I just want to take some good out of this terrible incident. This could happen to anybody. It could easily be me or you. Or it could easily be my child or your child. So, dear friends, cherish your children. Scold and advise them when they’re wrong but love them wholeheartedly no matter what for they could be taken from you in a twist of fate.