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One day, a long, long time ago, Death was docked in the moot court that sits between the gates of heaven and hell. The hydra-dreaded monster was able to prove beyond every reasonable doubt that it’s injustice, being blamed every time a person dies. At some point, death threw the small crowd into rare laughter when he mentioned that on many occasions he only arrives to find a target already dead. Death swore and the court upheld that he was not behind every death.
So, apart from death, does any other cause of death exist? Having ruminated on the matter, man and boy, I had since come to the inescapable and irrefutable conclusion that death only accounts for a negligible percentage of deaths, globally. Meaning that death is not as hyper-dangerous or omni-powerful as man makes it. Yes, death kills, but no, not as stupidly, not as wickedly and not as frequently as the other killers.
First, far much deadlier than death is fear. Fear kills more and faster and more painfully than death. Fear torments life before taking it. That is, fear kills slowly -like some sweet poison.
Unlike death that instantly terminates and moves on, fear kills and buries you but allows the same you to walk about, to live on, in invisible chains. People see you, they greet you, talk with you and in most cases postpone a good plan or deed for you only to be hit by the sad news the following day or week or month or year. You are dead if fear keeps you from daring, from trying, from enjoying your life. You are a walking corpse if fear lives in you, in your head, in your mind.
However, the sickening truth is that 98% of fears never materialises. They never shall. Those False Evidences Appearing Real have killed far more people than death has. Dear people of God, rise up and bark at fear.
It is a foolish coward, fear. Once you bark at it, and stand your ground, fear flees or melts away like a mirage to an oncoming vehicle. Be warned though, fear doesn’t always present itself as fear. It shows up sometimes as hopelessness, depression, self-doubt, cynicism, pessimism, name it.
Never allow fear in any guise rule your life. Anytime you receive notice from people or your mind that a positive plan is not achievable, just ignore, press on and strike. Only then would you discover that fear is but a shadow as it travels (read retreats) faster than light. Once you are brave, deliberate, and consistent against fear, you kill it -or it dies.
Alas, fear is not the only other non-death cause of death. Carelessness is another, as are politics, religion, sport, business, violence, hate, trouble. And, man, too. When one person kills another, why for heaven’s sake do we blame such death on Death rather than on the murderer?
The next culprit that gets very little mention is sickness. It can be argued that, last year, either the pandemic or the year (one of them) killed many more people globally than death did. Yet, both only receive a slap on the wrist. As we do to satan, we glorify death with even powers it neither possesses nor applies.
Also, most lives have come to a sudden or gradual end because of personal or extraneous silly mistakes or crass stupidity. Plus, when technology or voodoo goes wrong. Death cannot and should not be held liable for people killed in or by war, or bombs and bullets or black magic, or accident. Which brings me to how obituarists slant their messaging perpetually against death.
Saying that a person died after a brief illness tends to free the illness and instead points the finger at death as the killer. What then killed the person who died after a so-called brief illness? No long talk, diseases are themselves like death: they kill. Leave death alone and focus on sickness.
Ditto, medicine. Medicine that is fake or wrong or overdose can make death look like child’s play. In fact, some medicines are like a thief: some medicines come to steal, to destroy and to kill. While death only kills, some medicines kill and more!
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Furthermore, food, drink, adventure, crime and sin are other sure suspects in this matter. Food is meant to give life but we have seen that it does go fatally south from time to time. It’s unfair as well to blame the deaths of alcoholics on death: for crying out loud, their lives were wasted by alcohol -not by death. The same can be said of over-adventure, crime and sin: their wages is termination!
In this league also belong anger, bitterness, wickedness, jealousy, blackmail and sundry human emotional vices. All of them are powerful enough to kill, well ahead of death. Death should not take the brunt of blame when people die as a result of their evil. I hope with these few points of mine, I have been able to convince you that most deaths are not caused by death, but by other killers.
Death is a natural phenomenon that comes at the end. Mankind cannot and should not see death as a cause, except it happens at ripe old age. Otherwise, it is only an effect brought about by (an)other cause(s). Let us check these killers rather than keep giving death a bad name. God bless Nigeria!
Ondo: Aso Rock & the rest of us
The end of the Trump years in the White House, last Wednesday, unfortunately now means that Nigeria is back to its pole position globally vis-a-vis leadership shenanigans. Imagine the naked nepotism displayed by Abuja against the government and people of the southwestern state of Ondo. So, suddenly, the rest of us who don’t come from a particular section of the country should close our eyes and fold our arms to what I call intra-external aggression?
That is not the way to go, and no one should be intimidated in deceit or deceived via intimidation. Every state, every local government area, every part of this country should stand up and devise own security strategy. Or be ready for stories that touch the heart, when their future generations would only read the history of how they were conquered and liquidated by expansionist compatriots!
Meanwhile, the national government can simply wave the magic wand and patch things up, at least for now. Show fairness, punish offenders and make these crimes difficult and unattractive. Only then can we drastically reduce the fatal temperatures in the nooks and crannies of the land!
God, let last week be the worst
Just as a human being sheds 600,000 particles of skin every hour (about one and a half pounds of skin per year), 2021 must quickly shed its killer layer. Only three weeks gone but so much death: why?
Last week alone swallowed three of my best people. On Tuesday morning, a fantastic gentleman and Akwa Ibom State chairman of People’s Democratic Party, Obong (Hon.) Udo Ekpenyong, went to be with his maker throwing family, government as well as teeming friends, fans and supporters into inconsolable mode.
Over the weekend, former goalkeeper for our Super Eagles, Joe Erico, and forever king of talk, Larry King, took their turns. While wishing the three families and us all the condolences we can muster, we hereby request 2021 to calm down and bring henceforth only life and good news!
