Dearly Departed

Monday morning,you are going through the paper as,you sip the mocha you bought on your way to the office,yeah this Nairobi cold is unbearable and this El-nino blues aint making it any better. Theres the politics,Your president just came back from a country you didn’t even know exists,the opposition this the parliament this,scandal this stepped aside that…you scheme through your newspaper with that pile of work on your desk in mind…flip pages..classifieds,sports and you toss your paper at the far end of the desk.

You are now in the know,but wait..there’s more.Those two to three pages you flipped over while you were busy replying to your group chat on whats app.The pages you don’t give a damn about anyway. The obituaries,yes the page that made that guy that makes tea in the office(you don’t even know his name) skip work today.

Death is cruel,you might want to think of it as the work of the dark hand,you might say your God did not create it but its here,lets face it. One way or another it is affecting us plus one day we will all meet the hand of fate,we will all die. Later on in the day there’s a rumor about “mzee wafula” and how he lost his son in a grisly accident. You stop for a second it hits you,death is real…you now know the guy that makes tea in the office,you feel his plight. You put yourself in his shoes,it could have been your ungrateful son..that one that decided to become a deejay after 6 years of that medical course in New Delhi,God forbid. You walk outside light a dun hill smoke it out and go back in the office,you forgot about Mzee wafula,its back to work.

That pain of losing a loved one,it makes no sense when you watch it on TV,read it in the papers or hear it over the radio. It will only hit you when the grim reaper comes knocking at your door.It might be that bread winner,that daughter who studied so hard and is living her dream,it might be that drank of a husband you married,that nag of a wife you live with or that addict you share a roof with.Needless to say there is no lesser death. When death comes it does not choose,you might lose the least important person in your bloodline but you will never lack the best of words to eulogize them. Basically death levelises all classes and puts them under,literally. “He was the pillar of this family”. He didn’t even have a job,You didn’t even recognize him neither put him in your overseas trips plans. Everything bad about an individual will never be told at a funeral,Never will you here them say,”she was a prostitute and deserved what she got”. No,never and you know why,we are all different,everyone has that one aspect that stands out about them,the aspect that will make you love them to bits.No void can be filled when it comes to death.You will play loud music on the eve of the funeral you will drink yourself into an alcoholic stupor,you will shed tears(if they are crocodile tears,i don’t know) but as soon as that lifeless body is lowered into that grave,that is when it hits you!they are gone,they will not wake up,they are not coming back,you are not going to hear them laugh anymore,its all over.

That void will never be filled.They say ashes will go back to ashes and so will dust go back to dust,And the Lords will be done. Lord giveth,Lord taketh away.Who are we to question,its a path we will all follow,we will all go down that road.

Question is,how ready are you??

In memory of Uncle Joseph,fare thee well,we are all gonna miss you.Dance wit the angels,I know you were a good dancer.Till we meet again.