The battle against COVID-19 enabled See How to gain a deeper understanding of life and death. See How calls out to us to not let down our guard against Covid-19 and take it easy.

Chong See How is a SGM young men’s division member from Kuala Lumpur. He currently works in Hospital Kuala Lumpur, and has been in the medical care services field for 16 years.

Since the start of 2021, he began caring for COVID-19 patients. As a result, his work became more hectic, with few off days and making shift changes difficult. See How and his colleagues had to wear complete personal protective equipment (PPE) for the entire day at work, doing so for over seven hours each day. Sometimes they would have to withstand hunger, perspiration and nature’s calls in their PPEs. When his shift ended, no matter how tired he got, he had to shower before leaving the hospital so he doesn’t bring the virus home.

One of the patients he tended to was a woman in her fifties. Her condition suddenly deteriorated one day in the hospital, and she had to be intubated and put on a ventilator. When the doctor called her family, it seemed as if she was saying her final goodbyes to them and See How was deeply pained to see this. However, this patient was able to defeat the disease remarkably.

The battle against COVID-19 enabled See How to gain a deeper understanding that death can come in an instant. The awareness of death led him to examine his own life and to seek to live meaningfully. It also made him realise the importance of treasuring every moment of our lives. Every day, he chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo for his patients to recover as soon as possible. He also sends his prayers to the deceased patients for their early repose.

See How calls out to us to not let down our guard against Covid-19 and take it easy. “Kita belum menang COVID-19 lagi.” (We have yet to win over COVID-19). Let us continue to pray so that the global COVID-19 pandemic will end as soon as possible.

Adapted from September 2021 Cosmic