M'sia woman's FB post about her dad remaining professional while grieving sister's death resonates with many

Emotionally stable, not emotionless.

Tanya Ong | April 08, 2019, 05:49 PM

One lady in Malaysia recently wrote a viral Facebook post on how her father, despite grieving the loss of a loved one, was able to manage his emotions in order to perform his work duties.

Presented at conference a week after sister's death

In Mirosha Somasundram's Facebook post dated April 1, she said that her father's youngest sister passed away last year.

Her father was supposed to join a conference in Europe a week after, which was scheduled on the eighth day of prayer rites.

He informed them that he would not be able to make it in person. And instead of flying over, she said that her father decided to deliver his presentation remotely using Skype instead.

She asked her father how he was able to present so well despite the events that were going on.

This is what he responded, according to her:

"I promised 200 people there that I will present to them. They would be looking forward to that. If it clashes with the funeral, it's a different thing, but this is after a week. Yes, I am sad, but you need to know when to grieve and when to perform your duties. Emotions are just a part of what a human being is."

Father recently lost another sister

Mirosha said that her dad lost another sister recently.

He was at a meeting out of town when he received the news, but stayed on for another three hours to finish up his work.

He also called Mirosha, asking her to help him prepare for the funeral while he travelled back to Kuala Lumpur.

And according to her, even while they were on the way to the funeral house, her father was still answering calls when people needed help at work.

Emotionally stable does not mean emotionless

Mirosha clarified that her father's emotional stability should not be confused with being emotionless -- in her post, she described how, for the first time, she saw her father crying out loud upon seeing his sister's remains.

She also concluded her post by saying that she hopes she can be as emotionally stable as her father:

"I used to think that my dad was emotionless, but actually, he just knew how to distinguish emotions from duties...

I aspire to be as emotionally stable as my dad someday. I want to be able to express myself freely, but also master the ability to distinguish emotions from duties, cause like he asked me, 'If we let our emotions run us, who is going to run our lives for us?'"

This is her Facebook post:

Top photo via FB/Mirosha Somasundram