NoMoreLosses...Please.

See why I celebrate my friends always, always! No one knows tomorrow. Nobody. It could be me; it could be them.

Just like that NoMoreLoss passed away! Chai! A very enterprising, creative, talented and respectful young man. He mightn't have made it real BIG in music, but he was respected and his talent acknowledged. And now just like a candle in the wind, he's been extinguished. All the talent and effort wasted! Not many of his friends even knew he was down much less know he was about to quit the earthly stage.

I didn't know NoMoreLoss well (beyond doing some work with him at Planet One) but as John Donne wrote, "any man's death diminishes me...because I am involved in mankind." Yes, though I knew him not so well, his death has hit me like a thunderbolt, just like it has hit his close friends and family. So much unaccomplished; lots of dreams unrealized. And he was good, really good at what he did. Humility personified.

Well, all the tears, all the tributes and all the anguish are well and truly in vain because NoMoreLoss is no more here. He's gone to be with his maker, if he lived his life according to His wish. He's left us to carry on with the struggles. Many who mourn him today may be mourned tomorrow. As Donne further wrote in his famous poem, No Man is an Island, "and, therefore, never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee." Yes, the bell now tolls for us the living.

That's the reality of life. And death. My father did well to make me understand that one of the major characteristics of living things is death. So, I live my life knowing full well that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come. For me, life is a daily effort to live, to learn and to leave a legacy, especially a legacy of love...and to maintain peace with man and God.

Yesterday, it was NoMoreLoss. Who knows who's turn it will be today. Me? You? Who knows? Only God knows. So, let's live our days like they were our last. Let's serve God. Let's touch lives. Let's show love.

Rest in peace, NoMoreLoss. Your "sudden" death reminds us of the inevitability of mortality. May God forgive you whatever your shortcomings may be, after all you were human, and may His light perpetual shine upon you and all the faithful departed. Amen.

Just to add: Brothers and sisters, please take time to look after yourselves. Many will spend anything and go any length to keep their cars functioning but will find every stupid excuse on earth to avoid going for a medical check up or seeing a doctor, even when there are signs of ill-health. The choices are there. It's your call.

May almighty God spare us from untimely death. Amen!