Na once person dey die
I think it was Socrates that said death is a gift because we either stop existing and lose all consciousness, or we go to where our loved ones dead before us went to. In the words of TuBaba, nobody wan die but we wan go heaven.
Why is death depicted as a terrible occurrence? The same society that celebrates birth, detests death even to the extent that taking one’s life is considered a criminal act in some societies, but are not birth and death two sides of the fictitious coin? Even the “angel” of death is portrayed as evil in contrast to other angels and death is personified as having cold hands. Why are we scared of death and/or sad when a loved one dies?
I like to believe that the fear of death is multifaceted; first and most important is the fear of non-existence. We are scared of no more being Engineer A or Chief B. We are afraid of losing all we worked our entire time on the face of the earth to achieve. The properties, the wealth, and even prestige all go with that last breath. Death bestows equality on all men, we all go with nothing. We all end up in a rectangular hole in the earth, well except you are fortunate to be a Pharoah and end up with a pyramid to yourself.
You cease to exist and can only hope to live on in the memories of those around you. Then again, out of sight is out of mind and like dust in the wind your memory is slowly eroded and you end up just another tombstone. The thought of just not being anymore and even worse not being remembered after you are gone tends to make the idea of death even more dreadful.
Another reason for dreading death has to be the fear of what happens to those we leave behind. Except there is a large screen on the other side, we would be oblivious to what happens to our loved ones left behind and except that screen comes with controllers like the PlayStation, we would have no control over what they do or what happens to them. Imagine not being able to decide where Junior goes to further his education or being helpless while your daughter is sick. In our society, this fear is even potentiated by our friends in Nollywood. Their depiction of the evils perpetrated by other family members and the community on the immediate family of the deceased or even the tussle in the immediate family for the belongings of the deceased. The thought of having no say as to what happens to your loved ones or even worse, being helpless while they endure the evils of the world will make the idea of not being in the know sound well.
The two major religions in the country paint a picture of a “Heaven” or “Al-Jannah” where there is singing all day with large smiles in white robes on with streets paved with gold, where you can get anything you wish for even “Houris” (beautiful virgin girls for the men) while also talking about “Hell” or “Jahannam” a place of horror where there are unspeakable sorrow and gnashing of teeth from eternal punishment in the blazing fire that burns endlessly and with great fervor.
With the large portion of the society practicing these religions or some derivative of either, it is easy to see why these beliefs are widespread. If you have ever mistakenly opened the shower while the tap was set to hot water or even briefly held the handles of a hot pot you would definitely be afraid of spending eternity subjected to a never quenching fire but first you would fear the gateway to that eternity; Death. Knowing that when you die or when death happens you face the possibility of ending up in a lake of fire and brimstone only heightens the already emphasized fear of death.
The fear of death is so ingrained in us that even the schizophrenic assesses for danger before crossing the road. Those going through the hardest of times still choose to endure their travails rather than give in to the hands of death, when there is life there is hope they say. It takes the direst circumstances to see death as a way out and even at that suicide is still frowned on by most cultures and religions. Euthanasia rather being considered a gift is still a crime in most countries of the world.
Death is as normal as childbirth and should be treated as such. The sadness that follows the loss of a loved one is as normal as the joy that accompanied their birth. Even the Bible, the holy book of the Christians says in Hebrews that it is appointed unto men once to die (Hebrews 9 verse 27). We really should not demonize death or see it as evil, everything with a beginning will surely have an end and that’s all death is, The End.
