By Lee San

Have you watched the Netflix original Korean drama "Move to Heaven"? My friend Kheng was crying her way while watching it!

The drama reminded her of what happened to her in real life barely a month ago. Because of the coronavirus, her 45-year-old male ex-classmate, who used to be humorous and talkative, was beaten down and never got to wake up again to return to his bachelor house.

Upon securing the consent of the deceased's faraway family members, Kheng and her other old friend began to handle the stuff left behind by their old classmate. Saddened by the view of things so familiar to them, they had to stop their work momentarily on several occasions.

Kheng recalled: seeing those pictures we took together from primary school to secondary school and then traveling to KL together to start our working lives… He was always that vibrant and healthy. I really cannot accept that this is actually happening! Everything went so wrong in just a matter of days. He was rushed to an ICU, and we had to surrender him to the virus…

The saddest thing is that the deceased's friends and relatives could only bid him adieu through video-conferencing. Such a sad goodbye scene that is so near yet so far away is taking place all across our world today. The coronavirus has ravaged our planet and there is seriously no joke about it!

I have lately received short messages from social workers urgently seeking public donations to purchase coffins and hold funerals for COVID-19 victims, some penniless, without families or staying alone far from their loved ones. Fortunately we still have this bunch of passionate "final senders" in our midst.

As a matter of fact, we really need people who can hold out a hand, or donate to help the unfortunate souls that have failed to combat the virus during such disastrous moments, and see them off during their last mile of journey in life. But then who will send off those bodies left floating on the Ganges in India?

I once saw a European movie (can't remember the title) about a man selflessly helping to handle the funerals of strangers. All these years his job is to handle the "last mile" of unclaimed bodies day after day as if he is the only surviving family member of the deceased. He will begin with applying to the local council for expenses of the coffin, burial site, church service, etc., and then look for the friends and relatives of the deceased and appeal to them to come to the funeral. But more often than not, he is the only person at the funeral. Unfortunately, due to fund shortage, the local council eventually has to stop his service, sending him out of job. However, he keeps "sending off" people dying of old age, sicknesses, accidents and famine, all on his own. At the end of the movie, the man, who is staying alone, is "sent off" by the many "souls" he used to send off!

The movie is very touching and like the Korean drama "Move to Heaven", it explores that little ray of hope, or rather desperation, of people stuck in the narrow crack between life and death, through arranging for the deceased's funerals or handling the stuff left behind by them.

In another similar movie, Japan's submission for Oscar's Best Foreign Language Film award 2009 "Departures", a ritual mortician painstakingly prepares the bodies of the deceased and drapes them in their most favorite clothes before sending them off in their best looks.

Today, new mutant variants keep evolving and they are said to be able to spread much faster through the air, so much so that even morticians are no longer allowed to touch the bodies of victims killed by the coronavirus. The SOP now is to have the bodies cremated as soon as possible. We all know what the new normal is to stay alive, but it has never once crossed our minds that even the dead have to be treated this way under the so-called new normal!

So far more than 3.74 million COVID-related deaths have been recorded worldwide, many leaving us all of a sudden without getting to leave their last words to their loved ones. These victims have nevertheless left us a word of advice, constantly reminding us that we must keep facing life positively to fight the virus and protect all the people around us. Treasure life, and live it to the fullest!

As for us, do we still have thousands of excuses that the virus won't get us?

P/S: While this article has been penned to pay tribute to the departed souls claimed by the virus, it is also meant to inspire the living to learn to appreciate life, protect themselves and their loved ones.

(Lee San is Founder and Group Executive Chairman of Apple Vacations. He has traveled to 132 countries, six continents, and enjoys sharing his travel stories and insights. He has also authored five books.)