Death Is A Fisherman

Death is a fisherman, the world we see
His fish-pond is, and we the fishes be;
His net some general sickness; howe'er he
Is not so kind as other fishers be;
For if they take one of the smaller fry,
They throw him in again, he shall not die:
But death is sure to kill all he can get,
And all is fish with him that comes to net. 


..and the poem was written by Benjamin Franklin.

A week before CNY break, our PK HEM gave out a speech (during assembly) regarding students' safety during the long break. He said that he wanted to see all of the students safe & sound after the long break. He did mentioned some unfortunate events happened in the previous years to our former students. As he said that, Syidah and I were talking about a late student named CK. We both taught the girl a few years before and she was a bright and obedient student. She got 9A1's in her SPM. Unfortunately, few weeks before she could even see the results herself, she passed away. She died while learning to swim in one of the rivers. It was on 14th February 2010, and I was in Kuching when her classmate told me this. I was really shocked and sad to lose someone like her. She was truly a gem to the school. She had always scored the highest in my class and was one of my debaters for the Pertandingan Debat Bahasa Inggeris Antara Sekolah-sekolah Menengah Bahagian Sibu 2008.

It was a difficult time for all teachers especially when the SPM results were out not long after that. I too, was teaching her younger sister, KSJ in 2009. She was in form four then.

I couldn't bear the sight of her younger sister shedding tears whenever teachers passed her by giving words of comfort and I wasn't brave enough to come up to her asking how she was or giving my condolence.

A few hours ago, (note this date 10 February 2011), I received a call from Sai informing me of a freak accident near our school, involving our former student who is waiting for her SPM results to be announced in a few weeks' time. Sai mentioned a name. I couldn't believe it, so I logged on to my FB account (another account for my students). I posted a status urging anyone who knows about the incident to share with me. Seconds later, I approached two of CK's classmates about it. They confirmed the news. KSJ, the younger sister of CK's, was knocked down by a lorry on her motorcycle, and died on the spot.

Suddenly, I felt a knife thrusting my chest. It's that pain in my heart I can't understand but I felt hurt when I knew that it was true. I can't imagine the pain that the parents had to go through once again. A source told me that the grandmother & mother were heard wailing and screaming when they got the news. Another colleague whom I sent text message about this said that she actually saw the accident and that the body was already covered in a white cloth. The colleague said her teardrops fell even though she hadn't known the victim except that she felt it's somebody she knew.

My students, if you read this. Whether or not you're the smartass, badass, the champ or not, monkey or not, please take care of yourself. We teachers do concern about your life and please take extra care of yourself when riding your motorcycles or wherever you are. I don't think I could afford to lose another student I knew.  So, please take care. Be safe.