Iku!
I am not a fan of 'iku' which means 'death' by the way but I would probably be insane to ignore the fact that I will one day go the way of all flesh. My reaction to the topic of iku depends on what my state of mind is.
A proverb on African Proverbs which I follow on twitter goes thus 'Death does not sound a trumpet' Its a congolese proverb and one that rings so true! Who knows when they will pass to the great beyond? No one, not even those who have been told by the doctor they have just a few days to live.
A diversion here, I never can understand it when people say they have been given thirty days (or whatever time frame is used) to live by doctors. I have certainly never given such dire predictions and have not seen any of my senior colleagues do the same for though are believed to hold the secret of life in our hands, we are helpless when it comes to giving predictions on the expected time of death! I know when someone is dying right in front of me but I cannot tell you that you will die in 3 months. Of course there is the life expectancy attached to certain conditions but those are averages and its different for individuals.
I remember a lady with stage 4 breast ca on the oncology wards when I was a medical student who had pathologic fractures and had mastectomy and was really ill, one day she suddenly started getting better and left the hospital with no signs of cancer, she called it a miracle, I am not so sure the physicians agreed with her but she amazed everyone! What set me off on this track? ah 'Iku'.
Death does not herald its arrival and certainly wont introduce himself if you meet him in the market place. I am reminded of a rather funny joke about a man who got a message that death was coming for him, he hurriedly upped and left the town he lived in for the next town. But death arrived just as he was leaving and happened to ask his next door neighbour where he was headed. The neighbour replied that he was running away from death and going to the next town. Death laughed and said 'ah but Im supposed to meet him tomorrow in the next town'. The moral of the story is that no one can beat death!
Morbid Joke but one that puts things in perspective for me when I get distracted by things that in the light of death are totally unimportant. Why should I spend so much time obsessing (note the operative word is obsession) over my body when it will one day be eaten by worms? Attending compulsory post mortem sessions in Med School chilled me to the bones every day I walked into the morgue!
Human beings like me, sometimes my age,sometimes younger lay on the tables helpless stripped of all their clothings, immobile and irresponsive to the world around them. I would wonder what their last moments where. Did they have fights with their wives before leaving their houses that morning or did they lovingly bid their families goodbye? Where they enstranged from friends? family members? Did they owe huge debts? Had they promised to meet with friends later that day or weeks later? Where they to be married soon? Many thoughts with no way to obtain answers!
Why 'Iku'? It seems like the only thing that makes me write faster than I have done in a long time, its also a reminder to me like Max Lucados twit on twitter yesterday that with the end of every day "I am one day closer to heaven".
A proverb on African Proverbs which I follow on twitter goes thus 'Death does not sound a trumpet' Its a congolese proverb and one that rings so true! Who knows when they will pass to the great beyond? No one, not even those who have been told by the doctor they have just a few days to live.
A diversion here, I never can understand it when people say they have been given thirty days (or whatever time frame is used) to live by doctors. I have certainly never given such dire predictions and have not seen any of my senior colleagues do the same for though are believed to hold the secret of life in our hands, we are helpless when it comes to giving predictions on the expected time of death! I know when someone is dying right in front of me but I cannot tell you that you will die in 3 months. Of course there is the life expectancy attached to certain conditions but those are averages and its different for individuals.
I remember a lady with stage 4 breast ca on the oncology wards when I was a medical student who had pathologic fractures and had mastectomy and was really ill, one day she suddenly started getting better and left the hospital with no signs of cancer, she called it a miracle, I am not so sure the physicians agreed with her but she amazed everyone! What set me off on this track? ah 'Iku'.
Death does not herald its arrival and certainly wont introduce himself if you meet him in the market place. I am reminded of a rather funny joke about a man who got a message that death was coming for him, he hurriedly upped and left the town he lived in for the next town. But death arrived just as he was leaving and happened to ask his next door neighbour where he was headed. The neighbour replied that he was running away from death and going to the next town. Death laughed and said 'ah but Im supposed to meet him tomorrow in the next town'. The moral of the story is that no one can beat death!
Morbid Joke but one that puts things in perspective for me when I get distracted by things that in the light of death are totally unimportant. Why should I spend so much time obsessing (note the operative word is obsession) over my body when it will one day be eaten by worms? Attending compulsory post mortem sessions in Med School chilled me to the bones every day I walked into the morgue!
Human beings like me, sometimes my age,sometimes younger lay on the tables helpless stripped of all their clothings, immobile and irresponsive to the world around them. I would wonder what their last moments where. Did they have fights with their wives before leaving their houses that morning or did they lovingly bid their families goodbye? Where they enstranged from friends? family members? Did they owe huge debts? Had they promised to meet with friends later that day or weeks later? Where they to be married soon? Many thoughts with no way to obtain answers!
Why 'Iku'? It seems like the only thing that makes me write faster than I have done in a long time, its also a reminder to me like Max Lucados twit on twitter yesterday that with the end of every day "I am one day closer to heaven".
Well written....well said...i cant even say more than that
ReplyDeleteIt's food for thought indeed, this matter of death. I see where you're coming from...knowing that death is the great leveller really helps to put our lives in perspective.
ReplyDeleteI really do believe that it's in God's hands, and although I know what waits in heaven for those of us who believe, I'm not ready to leave this world behind yet...I feel like I have so much more to do and I pray that is the case! I'm afraid of death, alas, especially dying young. May we all live long and prosper (according to God's will)!
It's quite humbling to realize that only God knows how many days we've each been given on this earth.
Thanks Neefemi!
ReplyDelete@GNG- Death humbles the proud truly!