Seize life as death waits in the wings
IF THERE’S one thing I’ve learnt in life, it’s that in time anything that was something becomes nothing. Existence has no ultimate purpose except cessation.
To feel the pain of death, one has to experience the loss of a loved one, otherwise one will never know.
Two weeks before the fiery death of two uMhlanga socialites in a motor vehicle accident, a young Shallcross man and his relative had met a similar fate.
I knew Deveshen Naidu personally. He was the epitome of coolness and calmness personified – an angelic smile, a caring heart, a doting dad and a trophy husband.
This world will see few young men like him.
The words “gone too soon” become a painful reminder of the beauty he brought to life.
I know how his family and siblings feel for I too suffered the loss of a dear brother in 2014.
The mocking tears at night and the unanswered questions become a searching quest for closure as we ruminate about the cruelty of a God we serve. The death of a child becomes an emotional Hiroshima, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake.
The world becomes a shadow of itself. Death is a cheat, a charlatan that offers eternal peace but so often leaves nothing but perpetual torment.
Chaos lurks beneath everything and death always waits in the wings as watchful as a crow.
The crater of death is always present, an abyss that every now and then yawns open to give us a glimpse of its black depth, the eternity that swallowed people and snuffed out their lives.
It is the de rigueur of social society to postulate all kinds of conjecture and innuendo in untimely deaths. As humans, we need to avoid sweeping generalisations when trying to define our terms.
We need to talk cautiously because words have power and we need to show respect for the family during this inconsolable period of loss and bereavement.
The universe doesn’t operate like the clockwork mechanism of cause and effect that scientists so confidently predict. Anomalies abound. Deviations from common rule, strange conditions and incongruities abound. Occasionally, we have to accept the inexplicable. Life, it seems, is marked by synchronicity, surprising connections that seem meaningful.
Among other things, my past has taught me that the very fact of my existence is cause for amazement and wonder, that we must seize life because we never know how much of it remains for us.
God is never cruel thus there is a reason for all things. We must know the pain of loss because if we never knew it, we would have no compassion for others and would be dire monsters of self-regard and creatures of unalloyed self-interest.
The terrible pain of loss teaches us humility and has the power to soften uncaring hearts.
My sympathies and condolences go out to all bereaved families who have suffered the pain of loss. They, like myself, are awaiting a rendezvous with their loved ones in another place, in another time.
I am convinced that life is more than an act of breathing and it is eternal. Perhaps we can all take some solace in the words of the revered poet, TS Elliot: “In my end is my beginning.”