“I wanted to write something a little more thoughtful. It's a little somber this time but I rather want to share this story. Let me know what you think.” - Ethan

Almost 3 years ago, a friend of mine was driving home from Melaka with his then girlfriend, a high-school sweetheart of 7 years. He had just bought her a broken pendant and they’d just spent the rest of their vacation arguing over it. The highway was dim and she was fast asleep, he was slowly following suit. He jolted himself awake just in time to smash his vehicle into a lorry the size of Africa. He escaped with severe wounds, jigsaw puzzles for bones, and an amnesia. She didn’t. The worst part was the amnesia; for three whole years he lived not remembering the entire event or who she was. His family and friends kept it a convenient secret from him, deciding that ignorance was bliss.

On the 14th of February last month, he came across the very exact pendant while shopping. The amnesia dissipated and the memories flooded back in. His mother says the force of the impact was equal to the steel pipe; he almost suffocated from the shock of the total recall.

Korean drama material remarks aside, the moral of the story has nothing to do with sleep driving techniques. We take love for granted like it’s a free toy from life’s Happy Meal. We take partners, then discard them when we’re done, knowing that there’s always more where that came from. We see people whom we admire from a distance, but are never willing to do more than just stare. We say things that we later regret; we do things that we later condemn. What is the value of these things when you could lose the one you love?

 
Where I come from, Valentine’s is celebrated every day. I come from the land of now. I like to believe that we can all live for today and not have to worry about tomorrow. So if you see that boy whom you’ve been ogling at but never had the beef to do something about it, then, well, do something about it. If you don’t like your current playmate, if you’re already cheating on him with somebody else, own it up to his face; don’t wait for a freak accident to solve your problem for you. And if you’re only saying 1 “I Love You” every day, then make it two.

Sometimes my friends make up excuses just to avoid outings with their girlfriends. “It’s a long term project anyway”, they say. I don’t know about that. I don’t believe in permanence. I believe in appreciating the beauty of impermanence. And that is exactly what makes love so unique, the fragility of it all.

Remember Me picture from Allmoviephoto.com, Australia picture from StarMovies & Flower picture from everystockphoto.com