Ambulance Waaeeeeyooo Waaaeeeeyooo

Waaaaeeeeyooooo.

When you hear that sound on the road, there's two things that you would do.  First, jump in your seat.  Second, check if your seatbelt is strapped.  I mean many times during that split second when I hear a siren, my first thought would normally be the police and the I would check whether my seat belt is strapped or not as a second nature movement though I know 99% of the time I never move my car without first strapping my seatbelt on but that guilty alarm in me just trigger off anyway.

Many times however, it turns out to be the ambulance instead.  Where I came from, my home town, whenever people hear the ambulance siren, they simply continue drive like the ambulance is just but another car with an extra kinky horn sound and would not budge an inch to let the ambulance pass.  You know why?  Because they would say "Ah there's no one inside, they just want to past through this jam the easy way" and if someone do give way and the ambulance sped away, you will NOT be surprised to see a few cars who's stuck in the traffic jam, swerve and tail the empty space led by the ambulance as though they are some important ministry escorts.  It's pretty ridiculous but you know, most of us just shrug and forget all about it when the light turns green because hey, there's only that many seconds the light will stay green and all of us are trying to get past that traffic light and reach our destination the soonest possible, especially when the sun is scorching so hot.

Where I am now, it's much better.  Whenever there's an ambulance, most of the cars will swerve in all sorts of ridiculous manners just to let the ambulance pass and then wait patiently for the traffic light without trying to pull a Fast and Furious stunt, tailing behind the ambulance and I really appreciate that.

I never really get to appreciate this act of letting an ambulance pass that much until last year in June, when my mom and I was visiting my 97 year old grandma and you could imagine how my mom panicked when we arrived and we saw the maid crying and wailing.  My mom ran to the room and saw that my grandma was suffocating and gasping for air.  I am glad that I kept a cool mind and called the ambulance calmly while my mom was nearing a nervous breakdown herself.  That 10 or 15 minutes long wait for the ambulance, I can tell you from personal experience, that it is absolutely horrendous and mind torturing. With every second that pass, I swore and swore relentlessly under my breath as to why are they taking so long.  I pray and pray with every second that they get the house address right and not miss a turn and end up somewhere.   The swearing helps with calming and my prayers was answered, they arrived and within the next 20 minutes, my grandma was admitted to the emergency ward.

She managed to last though that journey but she didn't make it through the next day.  My grandma passed away on the midnight of that day.

But, till today, it feels like she has never really left us because she was so great and so strong when she was alive, even after she's gone, she's already moulded that bond and etched that image of hers so deeply in our mind that she seems to be forever living, through our memories and our stories of her.

It was from that moment onwards that it was embedded so deeply in me.  Whenever I hear a siren and I see that it's an ambulance, I immediately give way without a second thought.  I do not care whether or not the ambulance officers are abusing their powers or they are really on the way to help another distress family, it does not matter.  What matters to me is, they get to their destination as soon as possible.

I've decided to share this moment with you today and I hope you in return, would decide to share this with another person because you never know, when you will be the one waiting for the ambulance to arrive and when you are left so helpless, you could only pray that others would be more considerate and give way to the ambulance.

I will see you guys soon.

Love,
Mish