Bad news.

My lecturer announced today that one of our coursemates had passed away recently.

It was one of those moments when everyone stops and listens. Nobody packs anything though it was time to go, nobody rushes off, some gasp but the rest remain silent. Lecturer tries to break the news in the best way possible. Perhaps of the difference in culture, he didn't know what to expect. How would we react to a death of a peer? A person who was once present in the lecture hall? A person whom I might have sat next to in my shit-no-seat-just-grab-nearest-chair moments? A person whom I might have seen around campus, whom I might be able to recognise though we never said hi?

It was a weird moment for me. It never gets easier to deal with deaths, especially when young people die. Using my most psychological perspective in the most layman's terms possible, I guess we don't believe that young people can/should die so early. Old people pass away, we can understand and accept. But the thought of a young person dying just reminds us that we too, are young and we too could die. Hence, we feel threatened and we try not to think about it. When reality strikes time and again, we get flustered. We don't know how to deal with it because we can no longer assure ourselves that it will not happen to us.

Nevertheless, I hope his family can cope well and recover.