Ethical Software by Alex Bunardzic

My mother, Dragica Bunardzic (1933 - 2008), died of heart attack this Saturday, January 26. She was 74 years old. Last time I saw her was on September 18, 2007, when I bid her farewell at the Vancouver International Airport.

I would now like to say a few words in memory of my mother: just as she had given me the gift of life, and was teaching me throughout my childhood and young age how to live, she had also given me the gift of death. As much as the gift of life is incredibly important, so is the gift of death.

My mother taught me that it is very important knowing how to live, but also that it is extremely important knowing how to die. This gift of death is something that I’ve never received before, and only now do I see the connection, and the essential value in knowing how to leave this earthly realm.

It is a lesson I will never forget, as it may be one of the strongest learning experiences I’ve ever had. It is a mother’s job — teach her children how to eat, how to crawl, how to walk, how to go through life, and finally, how to die. Leave it to the mother to do all that’s most important in life, and in death.

I now know the proper way to do all that, all thanks to my mother dying five days ago. It is a fantastic feeling, a fantastic gift that only a mother can give you. Because of that, I know for sure that she hadn’t lived in vain. This gift I will surely transmit to my own children and to my wife, and who knows, maybe even to others.