A Glimpse of Death

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Tristan Espeloa Magistrado, and I'm here to
give a speech titled A Glimpse of Death. To start things off, I'd like to ask everyone in the audience if the
idea of dying makes them scared. I, for one, am terrified of dying, some of you might wonder why I fear
death given that we will all eventually pass away. If you know it will happen eventually, it can't be that
terrifying, can it? To give you more context as to why I fear death, let me share my recent glimpse of
death with all of you.

So, on December 24th, 2022 we traveled to Iriga, to spend Christmas with my father's side of the
family. We arrived there at around 1 pm safely, thank God, Iriga is such a wonderful place for me, and I
can't wait to go back there soon. Our Christmas there was so much fun; I had a terrific time. But all good
things must come to an end.
We bid Iriga farewell on the afternoon of December 26. Our journey home was mostly uneventful
and went as we had hoped, or so we thought. As we were traveling home, I had a fantastic dream that I'd
replace a certain stupid president and lead our nation toward a successful future, it was a very good
dream. However, when our van came to an abrupt stop, I was startled awake. As I slowly opened my
eyes, I saw this SUV speeding dangerously close to us before there was a boom. I slowly opened my eyes
to find that my two sisters and I were now trapped underneath the vehicle's seat. I attend lectures and
seminars on this subject frequently, so I am aware that the first thing to do in a situation like this is to
maintain your composure. But I failed, my body couldn't stop shaking, my heart was racing, my thoughts
were all over the place, and I was afraid.
Then I saw my two older sisters one was bleeding and one was about to pass out. I tried to gather
myself and started to kick the seat that was on top of us, but it wouldn't budge. I kicked until my feet were
starting to hurt. I tried so hard, but it feels like I'm not trying hard enough. We were still stuck. I wanted
to stop and rest, I was tired, but we had to get out of that van as soon as possible so I continued.
Thankfully, my brother came and helped us. I’ve never felt so useless in my life. What if my brother was
not there? After being treated at a nearby medical facility, we were able to leave that evening thanks to no
significant injuries to my family members, but I can’t say the same thing for the other passengers who
were with us in that van, I can still hear their shouts for help and pain even now. We spent the night at my
niece's house and took a van back to our home the following day. I was so traumatized by that incident
that the following time we took the van, I didn't fall asleep, I was so terrified the same thing would
happen again, only this time when I open my eyes, they won’t do the same.
I recall that at the time of the accident, I was thinking of all the reasons why God shouldn't take
me just yet. I don’t know what it feels like to have a girlfriend, I hadn't graduated and fulfilled my goals, I
want to at least experience having my own family, and I still haven’t had a chance to say to my parents
how much I appreciate and love them. and there were a lot more. Well, I guess I at least saw the final
episode of Ang Probinsyano. this speech's conclusion is that being close to death made me realize how
valuable life is and that I and you should make the most of it. enjoy every moment with your loved ones
for we don’t know when they or we will pass away, can be tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or maybe
even later hopefully not but you get my point, don’t have any regrets, life is too short for that, live your
life to the fullest and always say thank you, that you were able to wake up every day to witness and enjoy
the beauty of god’s gift called life. And that was my glimpse of death Thank you for listening to my
speech, I hope you have a great day. Good Bye.