Helena

Do you believe in afterlife? I never once agree to that idea due to lack of physical evidence to prove its existence. Well, no one should not say that I was being disrespectful when I say afterlife does not exist. It is juzt a personal opinion, not a fact.

Though there was a difference in opinions, I was not spared from a series of undesirable customary procedures, such that my body was filled with the stench of soot and incense. The lengthy chanting process was both physically and mentally challenging such that I was able to hit the sack and sleep at anytime.

Strangely, no one was teary through the 3-day long mourning period. Guess everyone realized one truth of this material world, which is impermanence of substance but it remains as a theory since no one was kind enough to validify it through experiments. I, for one had observed sufficient evidence to accept this universal truth.

Everyone was glad that the deceased was released from all forms of suffering now that she is dead. However, how come a dead person can impart suffering to everyone else just by dying off? Is there a Law of Conservation for suffering, where suffering cannot be destroyed, but merely transferred to another being?

I was referring to the torturous chanting process.

Don't you think it was ridiculous to hire several nuns or monks for about RM1k to do chanting some sutras whatsoever which the words make no sense? Personally, I thought of them as choir leading singers and we the relatives were part of the choir group, singing a hymn with a history on its own. But hey, these religious figures were proactive enough to bring their own drum set and other musical instruments.

A writer once wrote in Chinese, "I won't be missing you 'coz I have never forgotten everything about you". Honestly, I think I would forget all memories about this relative of mine in the shortest period and not be missing her at all simply in the future because I was not even close to her and all memories of her were either bad or bitter.

We of Generation Y are living in a fast paced life, where time is count by seconds and not days. Therefore, I believe it is more important to love the living rather than mourning the dead. So I say farewell to my late grandmother.