My wife came home very sad today.

A colleague of hers got a call from her son’s teacher. He had come up to her to complain about chest pain when he suddenly collapsed right there in front of her.

My wife’s colleague ran to the emergency room only to find that her son was already pronounced dead. Doctors there couldn’t figure out how this could have happened to a healthy ten year old.

The child’s mother had refused to give up and gave CPR to her lifeless son for an hour until his rib cage nearly cracked.

My wife and her colleague used to swap stories about their respective children regularly and this son was the one she talked about most often. Now he is gone.

I don’t know her, but my heart is overwhelmed by sadness and I am reminded yet again that money and material trappings mean nothing. Life alone is the real treasure.