By GEOFF TAN

I RECEIVED an e-mail from a close friend last week, just a few hours after he witnessed a tragic accident which left a fellow cyclist dead.

My buddy was out on his routine night ride doing laps around a regular circuit.

On his first lap, he noticed a container truck parked in his lane and took an outer path to avoid the obstacle. A male and a female rider who had joined him followed suit.

The trio then broke away a little, with my friend out in front. He negotiated the area where the truck was a second time, followed by the woman rider.

However, on his third time round, he found that an accident had occurred where the container truck was parked.

Going closer, he was shocked to see his riding 'kaki' sprawled on the ground. The rider had collided with the obstacle. He was only in his 20s.

A few nights later, I took my parents out for dinner and bumped into a friend who I hadn't seen for nearly a year.

Seeing that he was in a wheelchair, I asked him what had happened. In a weak and barely audible voice, he said that he had suffered a stroke which left him incapacitated. His wife added that he was undergoing therapy to help him regain his faculties.

Life is uncertain. No one knows what lies ahead. Some people call this fate, while others accept this as part and parcel of our existence.

Death, as you will probably agree, is neither a respecter of age nor state of health.

Even with the huge improvements in health care, it is presumptuous to think that we are destined to live long lives and die of old age.

There are many factors which can bring on premature death. Undue stress, unhealthy diets and unusual practices are some of them.

You will have read recently about the two teenage gamers, one of whom was a self-proclaimed Taoist medium, who jumped to their deaths from a ninth-floor window.

With all this unpredictability in our lives, I am reminded of the adage, 'Every day in your life is a special occasion'.

Most of us take our lives for granted.

And just because we are not that old or are not suffering from any major illnesses, we think that this gives us the licence to live our lives with gay abandon.

We throw ourselves headlong into one or two aspects of living, and procrastinate on a huge number of others.

However, if we look upon every day of our lives as a special occasion, we may want to consider spending more time with family and less time at work.

And instead of waiting till we retire to take up that hobby or travel more, why not plan to do these a little sooner?

Someone once said: 'The words 'someday' and 'one day' are fading away from my dictionary. If it's worth seeing, listening or doing, I want to see, listen or do it now!'

A way to put life in perspective is to ask yourself this question: 'If tomorrow were to be your last day on earth, what would you do today?'

Would you go out and eat your favourite food? Or would you put on that new dress which you have kept stored for so long, waiting for a special occasion?

Or would you call the people you have alienated and make peace over past misunderstandings?

I don't know about you but I like the idea of living for today, for you and I know that tomorrow is promised to no one.

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