C h r o n i c l e s ...

"For Whom The Bell Tolls" loud and louder still

The Four Ages of Men

He with body waged a fight
But body won; it walks upright.

Then he struggled with the heart;
Innocence and peace depart.

The he struggled with the mind;
His proud heart he left behind.

Now his wars on God begin;
At stroke of midnight God shall win.

by W.B. Yeats



God shall win ultimately.

I was flipping through the pages of the obituary section. I can’t explain why I did what I normally would have skipped

Wait a minute! No so fast! I thought I just got a glimpse of a familiar face! I flipped back to the page and there it was, his picture! I looked down at the name below, hoping it would not match. But there was not mistaking about it. There were more than one pic of him. You can’t forget a person whose name reads as memorably as ABC.

We were former colleagues in a bank. He moved on; so did I. We all did; the whole lot of us. It would be rare for anyone to stay put at any one place. Then we lost touch. Somehow when poeple go separate ways, friendships fade to nothingness.

It was shocking to learn that he died of a heart attack while in office as chief money dealer. What could have triggered it? Had he any heart problem before? Every heart has its bitterness and its joy. I suspect the management style of his employer aggravated it. (Oh I typed that as “aggregated” earlier. A very nice malapropism.)

A dubious distinction of literally “died standing”. And he was one year shy of 55. Poor chap.


I was on the phone with a former male colleague during the recent CNY holidays and in the course of our conversation, he slipped in: “Do you remember so-and-so, an ex-colleague our ours?

Given the notoriety of the person referred to, it would be difficult to not to.

"She just passed away" he continued in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Really?!” I could barely contain my surprise. After all, the deceased was junior to us in age. “When? How did you learn this?”

“She was a big shot in X bank, wasn’t she?” my friend egged on.

I updated him however unnecessary: “She might have been but her exit from that bank was shrouded in mystery. She might have the gift for gab and the grab for gift. And the higher you are, the greater your fall!”

We both knew tacitly that she wasn’t particularly liked by anyone who had the misfortune to cross path with her. I dare say a fair number of people would be pleased that she be pulled down from her high horse. She doubled up before she was double 5. Perhaps the horse threw her off! "Good grief!" says Charlie Brown.

Death is as causal as birth. It recognises not who you are, Fools or Kings for death is a great leveler .

I once came across a signature line in a tennis website reading somewhat like this: “Be nice to everyone for you’d never know who you’ll encounter on your way down”.

posted by Victor Lai @ 1:23 AM