Being Invincible

You know how — when you hear a friend narrate their story, about a moment, or an event, that unequivocally sends a message — that you are not guaranteed the rest of your life. And you wonder — “When will I experience that very turning point?”

You may have wondered… Would it be an accident? Would it be cancer or some other terminal illness? 

I did. I wondered.

For decades, I lived as if I were invincible. I had no real threat to my life, and neither had my family. But I always knew I was not ‘invincible’. We, are not ‘invincible’.

I’ve heard sobering stories of friends who battled cancer, of those who succumbed to it; of a friend who narrowly escaped death in a plane crash; and a friend who didn’t survive a car accident… Stories that hinted that I was all but invincible.

This summer, it was my turn to experience that message firsthand.

A near-fatal accident

I landed in San Francisco on June 6, 2022 (from Singapore) and checked into an airport motel at around 8 pm in the evening. I didn’t have any dinner, so sometime past 10 pm, I decided to cross the highway that separated my motel from a McDonald’s restaurant. I learned that it was already closed for business when I arrived, so I headed back to the motel. 

By that time, I was jet-lagged and fatigued from a 15-hour flight — and in that state, I stepped onto the darkened highway, looking out for incoming cars — but in the opposite direction (traffic flows in Singapore and the US are opposite of each other). 

What happened in the few seconds after, felt like a blur. I heard a very loud screech to my left, while my head was facing right. And when I looked around, I saw that a car had come to a stop on the highway — just 2 - 3 meters away from me. I eventually got back to my room, relieved, and somehow suspecting — this is the moment, from which the rest of my life would begin.

At the scene of a shooting

Ten weeks after that experience, my wife and kids had since joined me in Silicon Valley. They were out for lunch without me yesterday, and to get home — they were sitting out in the open at the Menlo Park Caltrain station… at the very scene of this shooting. 

It was 1:16 PM, when my wife looked at her phone, only to realize that the train was not going to arrive until 30 mins later. So she got up to bring our kids to take a bus home instead.

As they walked away… just 3 mins after — they heard about 7 or 8 gunshots being fired just behind them. And before they knew it, they were caught up in a crowd of people that ran out from a restaurant nearby to flee the vicinity. 

My wife and kids broke away from the crowd and went through a bush instead — finding themselves beside an apartment building. A kind resident opened the door to the building, and over 30 people, including 2 other children took refuge inside before my wife called me to let me know what had happened.

I started heading out — to get to them, but they insisted that they were well-hidden in the building, and asked that I stay away from the vicinity. I later learned that all the time they were inside, my kids were trembling, with whitened lips.

The police and emergency medical team finally arrived and cordoned off the area, where my wife and kids were standing just minutes before. And when some semblance of safety returned, my family got a car to bring them home.

Later that night, we helped our children to process all the emotions from the day; and answered questions like — can snipers shoot through our windows at night, etc. 

This morning, residual adrenaline remained in our bodies — reminding me that we are not guaranteed the rest of our lives. Danger lurks at every corner, unbeknownst to us; and only a higher order (God) preserves our lives for a reason. 

Incidentally, two of my recent posts were about living without regret (The Ultimate Status Update) and the deferring of dreams and ambitions (The Retirement Tragedy).

Today — realizing that our lives are not guaranteed, but mercifully, and purposefully preserved — I discovered another, truer form of invincibility. And that is the freedom to be and to do what matters most.

Thanks for reading Here today... somewhere else tomorrow.! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.