A Fighter Had Flown
This is a story of a freedom fighter, immigrant, thinker, artist, technologist, friend, and a cancer victim whose life we should learn a thing or two from.
Reed Tothong , or better known by friends and family and all whose hearts were touched by him as Firm Reed, had passed away peacefully in his sleep on February 6, 2017. Firm developed a rare form of cancer almost two years ago and had been fighting it to his last breath yesterday.
Of all the people who came into my life, few had ever made me look up to like the way Firm had. He was a true artist in every possible way. As a trained artist and technologist, his work, how ever radiant it was, was easily outshone by his character as a human being. His will to stand up to injustice and corrupted autocracy of our home country had left him stranded in America, still pending status as a political refugee until the day he passed. His will to fight the unfortunate disease was even stronger.
If there was any regret for him, it would be that this nation where he had called a second home and considered as a Sanctuary of the Free World hasn’t even come close to living up to the entitlement. The current immigration and healthcare policies only had made his trust in this nation mooter.
Firm had set an example of not compromising one’s belief and a true devotion to idealism and human virtue. In some ways, his existence had also served as a reflection to this abominable world he was in, like how a standing rock in a calm stream reveals the latter’s existence through the ripples. It is certain that who ever revolved around him was attracted to his strong will like he was a shining star.
At such a young age and with a strong, unwavering virtue and the will to change the world for the better through his art, Firm could have had accomplished so much more. He could have had the chance to be smithed by a combination of his relentlessness and the obstacles of this world into a strong, grown weapon of changes.
However, although much unfortunate, this last flight he took might as well be a condensation of all the great changes he could have had created for the world. It is through his last flight that he had created massive ripples of reflection and motivation that struck all people around him.
For us who are more privileged than him, what have we done thus far? For those who aren’t immigrants, who are lucky enough to not be born in a far worse place with tyrannies, wars, or extreme poverty, who are blessed enough to be able to openly discuss sexism, racism, and all the rights you can think of, and who are fortunate enough to still be alive and healthy--why are you not fighting as if it were your last flight?
Yesterday, a star named Firm Reed had shone his last light, but he will always be a pulsar that will emit bursts of energy to every matter in his universe and continue to attract us infinitely.
