I Made Someone Cry

Writing about people is always a bittersweet experience. A few days ago I received an email from an interviewee. She's a young university law student. Bright, beautiful and very polite. Sarah unfortunately has Lupus. A degenerative and incurable illness. Since there is no known cause or cure for the disease, it is only a matter of time before the sickness will consume the patient. She replied to an email I'd recently forwarded to her from another Lupus patient who wanted to get in touch.

Sarah wrote:
"I'm doing ok... The only difference for me now is that I'm using a wheelchair and tongkat to go to classes. Couldn't stand the pain, and just hope to finish this last semester of my life in university with the aid of this walking kits...
My first reaction when I read the article, I cried. I thought I was reading someone else's story. I thought this person is damn strong to go through such things. But, I didn't realize that I was crying for me. Some of my friends cried too. I never understood why people say I'm a strong girl, until you wrote the article. One of my friends said you wrote it just as how I described my Lupus effect. She really felt as though you did a good job. Kudos to you Mable!"

It was a heartbreaking and warming email. I'm not proud that I made a dying girl cry but I'm glad the article made her realize her inner strength. Realization is a hope. Hope is the great desire that keeps you going - even if it's one step at a time. And I really do hope she keeps fighting.

Writing stories like Sarah's can be rewarding. Because I hope it will make people live happier. We have so little time on this earth. It's good to be happy in what remaining time we have on this earth.

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