On the Frailty of our Breaths

'Did you hear the news?'

'Oh man, no news is good news, what news are you talking about?'

'It's all over Facebook! Where are you?'

It's been a couple of days since the news of Junaid Jamshed, Pakistani icon and larger than life personality tragically passed away in a plane crash, with about 40 other souls on board including his second wife. I had been recuperating from a somewhat serious infection that had left me bed ridden and canula-clad for three days. Being incapacitated in that way had led me to believe on several occasions that I mayn't make it. I did, I made it, but Junaid Jamshed- did not.

While in hospital, the emergency room always gives me some much needed clarity on my fragile existence. There was for instance, one old lady frantically fighting for breath. The plethora of medications had not aided her in ease of breath, whilst another young man yelled out in pain for anything to take away his misery.




But it also invokes in me gratitude, gratitude for the people around me who love me and want me to live, want me to prosper. It also humbles me, for a man in his mid-fifties, upon close inspection finding his wife to be at the reception calls out, 'Hey partner, what's happened?'

Partner, how sweet.

The truth is we are all so weak. We make plans, like Mr. Jamshed must have made. He had stuff to do the next day and the week after. But he did not see the dawn. I, on the other hand, was thinking about unfinished business, but in those moments when life was at it's nadir, the only thing that mattered was, 'Am I ready to meet my maker?'.

I got healthy, the despair turned into hope once again. The darkness was illuminated by the strength that comes with good health, the ability to enjoy food once again, to go back to a much loved calling, to once again get in bed without having the need to stay in there from delirium.

How frail we are, and yet how haughty! With such gusto and fervour we go about thinking how we will conquer the world, but little do we know about out next breath. How dependent we are on God's mercy and yet how miserly we are in His remembrance.

The demise of Junaid Jamshed had rocked the nation. Two days in, it's old news. Today no one is talking about it, there is the occasional post on social media, but the whispers and OMGs are over. And so it will be over for every soul that walks the earth. Quite profound for those who ponder.