By Douglas Ogbankwa Esq.
Norman Cousins once said, “The tragedy in life is not that we die, but what dies inside us while we live.” This sentiment is echoed in Patoranking’s song “Celebrate Me While I Dey Alive,” which highlights the hypocrisy and inconsistency in how we treat one another.
As the Publicity Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association Benin Branch, I had the privilege of hosting various ceremonies across Benin City, Nigeria, and beyond. These events ranged from celebrations of milestones like birthdays and marriages to solemn burials. I found the burials particularly confounding.When someone dies, people who never knew them often show up to signal their passage to the
great beyond. I was moved to tears when, at the funeral of a very influential man, his closest friends refused to carry his body. We had to find people who respected us to move the body to the dais. This man had helped many of their children gain admission to choice courses at a university where he had influence. However, in death, they no longer wanted to be associated with him. This profound lesson demonstrates how easily the living forget the dead.Some people tend to show hatred towards you while you are alive but express love when you die. If you were to ask someone for ten thousand naira to
feed yourself, they might refuse, but they would readily send one hundred thousand to a purse when you die. Sometimes, they only love you when you are gone.Live your life to the fullest while you are alive. Eat the chicken while you can because you will not be there when they are slaughtering the cows.
Dead men don’t tell tales. When you are dead, the story they pin on you is the one that stands. Create your own story and glory while you are alive.
Achieve immortality so that even your enemies will have to identify with you when you are gone. That is the sweetest revenge—for you to be dead and yet alive, while they are alive but dead inside. Sometimes, you find the living among the dead and the dead among the living.
As J.K. Rawlings said, “To the organized mind, death is the next great adventure.”
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