My uncle is 47 with a beautiful family, works at a shipping industry (Merchant Navy) as an engineer. The nature of his job requires him to be with the company for six of the 12 months. He is an exceptional personality, a devoted follower of his religion. Almost every family member has words of praise for the couple and their children. But then, tragedy struck.

He was recently diagnosed with stage-4 cancer. Doctor says miracle is the only cure. The eldest son was having his examinations while his father was being admitted in the hospital. Grandma visits him every day. The intensity of the disease doesn’t allow my uncle to consume food himself. Grandma feeds him.

My aunt reacted to the news in a composed manner. She is brave but we know how much she loves her husband. She once told my mother to take care of her children because she wishes to accompany my uncle to the next world. Her words have left rest of the family devastated and many living abroad have returned to be with the family in despair.

This makes me wonder that how fragile is life. People who were at one point in time living their lives to the fullest have now nothing but sufferings at their disposal. A position in which one unfortunate incident can create an irreversible and horrible dent, and a loving father, husband and son might be lost in a blink.

My uncle used to wake up for morning prayers, go for a walk, and live a healthy lifestyle. The horrible disease has taken almost everything from him. It pains me to see him in such a condition. You can complain regarding its unfairness but would that be of any value? Rather, you can accommodate your thinking according to the very nature of things around us and live life to its fullest.

A friend of mine told me he lost his uncle, aunt and grandmother in a month. His words made me realize how hard it would’ve been for his family to deal with three deaths in such a short span of time. We cannot measure grief when we look at the greater sorrows of others our own grief seems to be minimized.

They say time is the best healer. It makes us forget else humanity would have perished with nothing but to mourn over deaths and pains. With time comes hope. Hope is what energizes the human intellect and drives him to pursue the impossible. Hope for finding a cure for the disease, Hope to live longer and better lives, Hope to be able to spend the remaining days of the life to the fullest, Hoping for a miracle from God, hoping for a better world, hoping that everything would turn out to be just fine without the person.

Moreover, we are fortunate to have a firm religious thought of Islam with us. Prayers at this time are our greatest partner. We pray and our pain minimizes. The thought of afterlife connects us strongly with our loved ones for eternity and give us a sense of belongingness even when the person is worldly absent. God has promised to unite us at the Day of Resurrection and we can be with them in heavens. This thought is so intense that it gives us a reason to live happily.

Death is indifferent. It’s brutal to the core and it does not listen to the cries, the current conditions or the future problems for the people around. It strikes hard to every place it intends to, with utmost savagery. Death makes the world absolutely meaningless and makes you wonder that it indeed is the destroyer of all pleasure. As a person so engrossed in the affairs of this world, death can shake a person from his worldly slumber.

We always hear news of people dying around us but it does not ring enough bells in the brain. Death of a loved one is what makes the world upside down. We see some people changing drastically when their loved ones are gone from this world. According to Rumi, “The Wound is where the light enters you”. Different people will answer these questions differently and come up with different conclusions. Most will shun this question, do not rethink about life and keep going with the flow of the events.