By William Markiewicz
A reader forwarded an account from GULL newsgroup about Ludwin Fischer’s death. Ludwin was known to Vagabond’s Communication Page visitors for his colourful insights, mostly about Thailand. He was Vagabond’s only francophone contributor and his notes gave a revelatory window on this far away world of Southeast Asia. He gave a powerful account of his participation in the recovery of corpses of Tsunami victims. To honour his memory, I quote his reflections about life and death (from the GULL newsgroup):
February 24, 2005 – Tsunami volunteers in Thailand / Ludwin Fischer
» [...] Then, we had to face more philosophical, existential worries: is this really the way our lives end? Are we all bound to become just that: smelling, disgusting meat, soon to be eaten by worms if buried, or turned into ashes if burnt? Or do we go somewhere else after leaving our shell?
» I have no religious convictions. However, while I worked in Takuapa, I could not help believing that life does not end after our physical death.
» I won’t try to convince anyone of this belief, for it is something you must experience by yourself - not necessarily by dealing with dead bodies after a disaster. There are other ways to make your opinion on life and death.
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William Markiewicz