Transcriber: Alban Montano Reviewer: Maurício Kakuei Tanaka
Hello, I’m Wasan Al-Ammar,
and today I’m going to be talking to you
about how I got through “Good things always come to an end.”
Slurping the mango juice during recess while squeezing the carton,
drinking every drop,
I slurp again, again, and again,
not being able to throw it in the trash even though there’s no more left.
I always thought I could dodge the signs of things starting to finish,
like squeezing the last bit of toothpaste.
I always seem to convince myself there’s more in there.
Or while watching series,
“I’m sure they’re creating another season”
was what I always used to say on the very last minute.
Ever since I was a child,
I never truly understood the reason why good things had to come to an end.
I used to get upset, angry, and frustrated about that.
You see, in reality, nothing lasts forever,
but what if I wanted it to?
Can it not?
I remember wanting holidays to last longer,
trips, friendships, and even lives
being extended.
Losing a loved one was and still continues to be
one of the hardest things that I could ever go through.
I’m never going to get over the fact
that I never got to say a proper goodbye to my grandfather
before he passed away two years ago.
Have you ever gone through the death of a loved one?
Do you know what it feels like
to have this pain, this specific type of pain,
right here,
in the specific place in your heart?
Yes.
Well, I hated that type of pain.
Seeing as that it occurred during the pandemic,
that time was really tough.
We couldn’t visit him often
or even get into close contact due to COVID-19.
When he was ill,
my uncle rushed him to the hospital
where he was taken in for a general examination.
They had to routinely check-up to make sure it wasn’t a variant
which required him to spend the night.
We tried to call him, but the service was horrible,
and he couldn't adequately respond.
You could say,
“My parents had a really tough day.”
I remember this phrase he would always tell me:
(Arabic) “God willing, we’ll see you graduate from the university
as a doctor of the highest ranks,”
(English) which meant he hoped to see me as a graduating doctor
in the highest of ranks.
I used to nod and smile, not understanding a word that he said,
not knowing it would be the quote that motivates me today
during the hardest times of my life.
Throughout my childhood,
I would always start imagining important events in my future,
such as my graduation,
my wedding,
and the day I’d come to the realization of who I am.
I’d always imagined my grandfather attending these events,
or at least being proud of my accomplishments,
like walking me down the aisle -
he was always there in the image that I had in my head -
or even clapping for me while I shake the dean’s hand,
or visiting me on my first day working at the hospital.
Until that day.
The day when it hit me,
the day when I realized
that he wasn’t going to be attending any of these events,
that his time had run out.
Even this had come to an end.
The heartache of losing my grandfather
was my awakening,
my apprehension of the end.
I began to realize that the issue is not that things actually end.
That is natural.
It’s the circle of life.
The issue is that we are dreading that ending
without genuinely living in the moment.
We need to start cherishing these precious minutes in life
that we keep on taking for granted.
Don’t wait until it’s too late.
You don’t need to go through an unfortunate moment to realize.
Start now, before it all comes to an end.
And before you knew it,
in the blink of an eye, this speech had also come to an end.
Thank you.
(Applause)