'I Dared To Live And Now I Dare To Die': The Obituary Everyone’s Talking About

September 23, 2025

When a son sat down to write his father’s obituary, he didn’t craft a polished list of accomplishments. Instead, he wrote as though his father himself was speaking.

The result is raw, vulnerable, and deeply human — and it’s resonating with people all over the world.

Ong Peck Lye

What makes the piece so powerful is its honesty. It speaks of regret and redemption, of love and conflict, of ego and humility. It reminds us that a full life isn’t perfect — it’s complicated, messy, and deeply human.

“I wrote it as though my father was the one who wrote it. I truly believe that it was what he would say if he could,” Ong Tiong Yeow said.

This is what he wrote:

I, Ong Peck Lye,
I was born in poverty and uncertainty,
So I

Circled myself with friends smarter than I,
Married a woman better than I,
So I could have children greater than I.

I spared no ego nor expense,
To show others I showered my family,
The beneficiaries of my simple heart.

I never got to see my father be
A husband to my mother so
I made mistakes being both,
Trying to be as human as I know.

All my acquaintances and my friends
Thought I was this perfect man.
My best and closest knew
My conflictions were quite a few.

My poverty became prosperity,
My hunger became my food,
My simplicity became complexity,
My ego big beyond me.

For all the adventure and flamboyance that I knew,
My last days were dreary and weary.
For all the charity I that gave,
My true friends were few,
My siblings all gone before me.

A wife who fretted over my meals and medications,
A son who cut and stroked my hair and nails,
Calmed my nightmares, lift me up and tucked me in.
My wife who cowed when I stood over her, stood beside me.
My son who dared stand up against me, stood up for me.

At last I got to see my legacy,
Ensured, enshrined in good hands.
I dared to live and now I dare to die.
I am Ong Peck Lye.