On Being Expired

It was a gloomy morning today when I came into the office. The sky had been shedding tears since dawn, and the streets were empty because most people have gone out for a long vacation.

I walked in half expecting the new elevator to (finally) be installed, but sadly I was relying on yet another false hope. It has been more than a month since they worked on revamping the elevator and since then, we had to climb the stairs everyday to 5th floor -- a few times a day of course -- and sometimes with loads of baggage in our hands.

As I was reaching the 5th floor (which is the top floor, by the way), my eyes were drawn to the foremost newspaper which was hanged on the newspaper rack in the mini lobby area. Which was rather unusual since it never happened before as I'm not a newspaper person -- I barely touched them. But on this particular morning, it just happened. It was The Jakarta Post and on it was this headline: Benazir Bhutto Assassinated.

I was stunned. I walked closer, picked it up, and read the news right then and there.


Benazir Bhutto Assassinated

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP): Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a suicide attack that also killed at least 20 others at a campaign rally, aides said.

"The surgeons confirmed that she has been martyred," Bhutto's lawyer Babar Awan said.

A party security adviser said Bhutto was shot in neck and chest as she got into her vehicle to leave the rally in Rawalpindi near the capital Islamabad. A gunman then blew himself up.

"At 6:16 p.m. she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto's party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital where she was taken after the attack.

*Read more on thejakartapost.com

Of course, it was a very disturbing news. A very well known world figure like her, killed in such a way. But what disturbed me the most after reading the news was not about the death, but rather this particular line: "At 6:16 p.m. she expired."

Expired? Really, that was 'sensible'!

I don't know why but it did bother me a lot. It just sounded so.. mean, cold, and heartless. To say that one has expired. It's as if he/she was a lifeless object to begin with, like a canned soup or milk, with expiry dates on them.

Why can't he (Wasif Ali Khan) just say "she passed away"? Or just a simple "she died".

Maybe this is just a misunderstanding that I got from my poor english vocabulary knowledge. Will someone please shed a light on me here? Much appreciated.