SEPTEMBER 23 — When I think about the theory of multiverses, I wonder if there was an “other me” who didn’t survive the year.
Right now, though, Musliha, the woman I’ve mentioned before in past columns, has been told there is nothing more the public healthcare system can do for her.
She has young children who face the possibility of losing their mother. A husband who has done his best with limited resources.
This shouldn’t be anyone’s story.
If you can send her a spare ringgit or two so she can at least eat without having to worry about where the money will come from, you can donate to her here.
I wonder in the other universes if the other Ernas were championing other people.
It is beyond me to eradicate cancer (it isn’t just one disease, it’s multiple different ailments, which the AI bros don’t understand, alongside how to be good humans).
Maybe I can’t save people like Musliha but perhaps reading this will remind you to get checked.
Maybe you’ll drag or cajole that stubborn family member or friend to a check-up.
Maybe you’ll stop telling yourself your aches, your constant tiredness and lacklustre mood is just the tiresome business of life.
With cancer it’s a race and once it gets ahead trying to catch it, beat it and tell it to get out of your life becomes an even twistier, harder slog.
There are things just as bad, maybe worse than cancer so really, you shouldn’t live a life revolving around trying not to get it.
I think being a cancer patient has taught me to let go of things such as the weight of expectations and needing to prove myself to anyone.
Why spend an hour or more spiralling about things that haven’t happened or outcomes that did not favour me?
Life is ephemeral, sometimes full of discomfort, and it is, beyond anything, still a gift.
Which is why I think you should be prioritising your own health and stop telling me to not eat doughnuts.
Speaking of doughnuts, I am very annoyed that the queue at I’m Donut? is still ridiculous and I would rather have a good burger than waste two to three hours of my life for the sweet pastries.
Not that I would refuse a box coming my way; I just do not want to annoy my joints and legs to line up by 8.30am as I have heard some people do.
Life is too short to chase doughnuts, sweetheart.
I’ve heard that IKN is now swamped and people are filling up public hospitals out of desperation.
The solution is not selling people insurance. It’s about prioritising health in every aspect of our daily lives at a policy level.
Our kids are stunted. Our incomes depressed. We cannot budget or “ubah gaya hidup” ourselves out of systemic policy failures.
So instead of mocking the fat Malaysian you see walking past you or feel proud that you’re not the one lining up for a sweet drink or dessert, remember this — cancer does not care about how virtuously you live your life.
What you should care about is that we do not have enough healthcare professionals or hospitals, that current insurance standards means most policies exclude people who would most benefit from it.
Moralising or judging doesn’t help you; it just hardens your heart in a world where we need it to be softer.
Yet as dark as this world may seem now, with creeping inflation, people asking talking Magic 8 Balls to answer their emails for them and billionaires gorging themselves with money, it is more important than ever to preserve our minds and souls.
Hold on to those things that no one can take from you, that essence of humanity.
And if you need to, have a doughnut (that you don’t have to queue two hours for).
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
