Shocking, unacceptable but true: drivers in Singapore don't give way to ambulances!

I was waiting for the elevator late at night on September 11, 2012 when I saw two paramedics wheeling a stretcher towards it - so I let them go first.  They thanked me, but I thought they didn't have to.  It was only later, when I got to my floor that I realised they had gotten off at my floor too. And then they kept moving towards my parents' apartment that was all the way at the end of the meandering corridor as I tailed them.  I was waiting for them to stop at another home.  But they didn't.  It was like a nightmare that unfolded very slowly - but of course, it was all real.

Eventually they stopped and went into my parents' place.  I still remember one paramedic catching my eye the moment it dawned on me and his expression was of apology.  It was a very gentle "I'm sorry", coming from someone who experiences this everyday.

My dad had a severe stroke.  He was struck by sudden numbness on one side of his body and fell off the bed.  Once I entered the house I had no time to panic.  I had to calm my mom (who was sleeping beside him when it happened) and help the two paramedics (my dad was too heavy for them to manage).

More than a year later I still look back and think that we never saw it coming.  Did he seem out of sorts when I had dinner with him just two days before?  Not at all, but in retrospect it did seem like he was unusually vocal about saying I should go for a vacation in Taiwan with him (he is really frugal and never pushy).

But I guess he never saw it coming either.  During the first night when he was slipping in and out of a dream state, I remember this moment of clarity when he realised what had happened to him and he said some things that broke my heart "Why did this happen to me? It's so unfair. I've been good."

Life is unfair.  I say that not out of dejection or pessimism.  Rather this situation (among others) reminded me that this moment will come - when something happens to you or me that we'd rather not have happen.  In fact the word 'stroke' really tells a story, that your life could change in an instant - in one stroke.

Whether you choose to party hard because you only live once or be compulsively healthy to stay in good shape for as long as possible, just remember to be kind.  Be kind to your friends, your lovers, your parents - and that person in the ambulance behind your car.

Image by pandora_6666 (Flickr)

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