The demise of a young soul

During last night's Form 5 English class, I was surprised and sad to learn that one of my students, Al-Amin passed away in a road accident. A bus had knocked him down and dragged him a few meters ago. He died on the spot because of serious injuries sustained when he was being run over and dragged along by the bus.

This tragic news really awakened us to the transient world we are in. We are here for the time being and we can be called by God anytime.

I remember Al-Amin as an enthusiastic student in my English class. He would jot down the meaning of every new word he came across or the one whose meaning I wrote on the whiteboard. According to his friend, he had turned over a new leaf as previously he was a naughty student who always tried to test his teachers' patience with his rudeness and misbehaviour.

The Chinese always believe that if a bad person suddenly turns good it is a bad sign because some misfortune will befall him. Al-Amin's case seems to fit this phenomenon.

Beating the traffic light when it turns red always end up in tragedy. If Al-Amin had been patient enough to wait for the traffic lights to go green, he would still be in my class. However, sometimes, if his 'ajal' (the day one is destined to die) has come, there is no way he can escape it.

I really miss Al-Amin's naughtiness and his spirit to master the English language.