I guess there is no remedy or medicine for our pain to be subsided even if they say “Time is our best medicine”, we as Chung Ling students will not be able to erase the painful memory of our friends who have been with the Lord on 17 January 2010. I’m not here to put my finger on which party should be responsible in this tragedy. The parents of the victims chose to let this tragedy be left behind, leaving only their memories with the victims, why we (the outsiders) should be pinpointing on who is to be responsible?
I remember that I first heard the news through Facebook, and I thought it was a prank at first because I know that fellow Chung Ling students are strong, physically, mentally, so I assume that people are just spreading out rumours. But then I got a message from one of my friends and he told me that one of my friends Jason Ch’ng, has been found, dead. I was lost of words and tears started to come out, so I started to refresh my Facebook every 30 minutes to receive any latest updates.
The undercurrent has mercilessly sucked the eighteen fragile lives into the frigid waters of Macellum Street. Who would ever imagine that such tragedy would happen? Till then, 2 bodies were found and those bodies were the only ones who wore the life jackets. Ironically speaking, the life jackets which resembles life, has been the cause of their death.
I was unable to be at the scene due to transport problem, but I made contact with people from the scene. Of course I turned on the TV for news too but to no avail. The four who are missing were still nowhere to be found, and the rescue team had to be resume their operation next thing in the morning.
It was an emotional struggle for both of their families and their friends. For once, Chung Ling was quiet when I Reached school on Monday. No one talked, no one discussed about anything. Everyone was wondering the same thing? Can anyone live to tell the tale? We were hoping for some great news, but all in return, we learned that the 4 who were missing were all found. Cold, Lifeless, Frigid, Numb….
In just one day, we have lost the lives of one teacher and five of our beloved friends. Some may not know them, but I believe the entire school are experience an emotional torn in them. No one was in the mood for anything, even the teachers had tears in their eyes. Who would ever thought that we would be experiencing death of friends at our last year in school. Those victims had their graduation pictures, had dreams that they want to be successful, had promises to their parents but in the end, we were all greeted by their lifeless faces, lying down on their wooden bed, segregated by a piece of glass.
Never will we hear their voices, never will we hear them calling us, never will we have the chance to work with them, never will we have an outing together with them, but most of all the MEMORIES we have with them will be forever etched in our minds.
Have you ever blame God for taking the lives of 6 people who have talents, leadership, cheekiness, humour, determination and many other criteria that make a better person? Perhaps if we stop and think for a while, maybe God is seeing that we are ignoring our friends day by day, so maybe He should do something to give us a warning. But why 6?
Yes we may have cried, those tears are gone… But it doesn’t mean that it ends here. We still love them, right? We can still move on and be strong even if they are beside us. Remember, they are somewhere up there blessing us, and laughing at us probably.
This is a caricature drawn by my friend, Chin Chern. Brendon is the second boy from left, and he had talent in debating, probably more than me, and he is indeed a diamond in the rough. He was planned to be representing our school for the debate competition, but I guess he could not make it… Well, we will win the competition for you, Brendon! Don’t worry!
No words can describe our pain… I will probably upload a video on a song I wrote for them “They Will Be Loved” once I get the chords right… And yes, they will be loved and remembered, rest assured.
God bless, my fellow readers!
Tags: friends, God, tragedy
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