Remembering My Neighbour

My neighbour was a strong woman. When she was in her 70s, she was diagnosed with cancer and the doctor said that she had not very long to live. Defiant, she went on to eat only tomatoes everyday. After a year, she was off cancer.

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One day about ten years ago, I met her in the neighbourhood supermarket and though I greeted her, she didn't respond to me. I was shocked, but shrugged it off and moved on. Then a few minutes on, she called me and apologised and told me that her eye sight was failing and she couldn't see clearly.

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Her eyesight did not recover, but that did not stop her from moving around on her own. She did her daily morning walks in the woods at 9am every morning, rain or shine, or snow, without fail! So, during winter amid the snow and sub-zero temperatures, she would don her raincoat, boots and take her walking stick to go walking in the woods. She did that everyday, even when her eye-sight deteriorated so much that she became fully blind.

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Then some years later, she fell down at home and became bedridden. Then we stopped seeing her coming out for her walks in the woods. By now, she was already about 90 years old. I thought this time, she was going to die! However, after a few months, I saw her appearing in the garden on her wheel chair. Then yet a few more months, she was up on her feet! Then another few weeks, she was up going for her morning walks in the woods again.

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Her will to survive was remarkable. Everytime when I go through difficult patches in my life, I think of her will to live, and feel a lot more powerful to press on.

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Then last month, she fell sick. She must have been about 92 years old. Incidentally during that time, her husband got into a car accident and was seriously injured. He was then admitted to hospital in intensive care unit. On receiving the news of the criticality of her husband in the aftermath of the accident, she was so griefed, she passed away. The husband, however, survived the accident subsequently.

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The moral of the story here is that she died the moment she gave up her will to live, which she had persistently held on in the past. Her will was so powerful it overcame the physical ailments and accidents she had, and once that will was given up, the body dies.

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Note: The Will is more powerful than any physical force. Read about this in a recent Tao lecture I attended.