News for the Day

I arrived early this morning at work - a bit sleepy since I only slept less than 8 hours the night before. As I walked out of the elevator, I noticed that our floor was still dark - no lights has been turned on in our work area. I could only count the times where I was the one who turned on the light in our floor area and today I think was the 5th time that I did it in my entire 5-year stay in the office.

About an hour later, my officemates started arriving for work. A few minutes later, we received a text message from one of our technical colleague that our dear packaging specialist expatriated in G country died few hours ago. We were all shocked as the memories left by our dear colleague was only of happy moments full of witty remarks, smiles and laughter.

Goose bumps filled the atmosphere.. Some cried specially those close to him upon learning the sad news. I was initially shocked since I never thought he would die in such a manner - he was assigned in G land for only about half a year.. He doesn't have any fellow countryman in his area of assignment.. and the last thing I heard about him from one of our colleagues who recently went to Glandia was that P lost a lot of weight - that he was thinner than before and that he was homesick already.

He was already confined in the hospital and stayed in the ICU for about 4 days prior his death. Few weeks prior to his confinement, he was already sickly. He initially don't want to tell anybody about his condition especially his family.. What spread around was that he was admitted in the hospital for salmonella infection. I never thought salmonella would be that deadly especially in such a modern country! When his health condition worsened and he was already admitted for ICU, they contacted his home market for the news. His sisters were able to fly out the soonest they heard the news and be with him for a night before his death.

In my opinion, P doesn't deserve to die the way he did. He was one of the best packaging specialist I've ever met.. Though I was unfortunate to have not worked with him directly, I see him along the corridors before, worked with him previously in an outreach program and he is such a delight to be with. I see his packaging initiatives and how successfully it was launched in the market and I was thinking this man will be successful in his career and could become one of the packaging head in the near future for our company.

With what happened to P, I came to realize aside from prioritizing one's health above all things, the value of keeping in touch all the more with your family,relatives and friends especially if you are far from them. Just a little hello would do to know that you care for them. I confirmed all the more that being assigned in another market is not a bed of roses. There are a lot of sacrifices that needs to be done.. Being homesick is one.. You are quite lucky if you could bring your family with you.. Sometimes you might be able to realize that it is even more expensive living abroad despite being in expatriation assignment than being in your home country. Expensive - physically, financially, emotionally and psychologically. It's priceless to have loved ones at close where you can hug them if you want to. kiss them if you need to and catch up with them on their various stories for the day. Simple joys truly matter. Life is too short to miss out on simple blessings.

Eternal rest grant on the soul of P and may perpetual light shine upon him.