Yesterday, something happened around my area. Something serious enough to leave most of the people around, with gloomy faces. Those that could speak, spoke in hushed tones. Those who were still processing things, processed it silently.
What actually happened was that a man died. And he wasn't just anybody. He was the security officer at a school in my street. Everybody knew how cheerful the man was, how he waved at kids, how he greeted people and laughed loudly but no one really knew anything about him, other than the fact that he is the security officer for that school. So, yesterday morning, when the teachers had begun resuming, they found the school gate locked from the inside. They banged the gate for some time, all to no avail.
After a while, they decided to use a ladder to get in and open it from the inside. They did and when they eventually opened the gate, they found the old man slumped, dead on the floor, at the entrance to the bathroom. Nobody knew the cause of death, the exact time of death and how it happened. They tried contacting his family but the only person that picked up was his 16year old son. When the boy came, police officers could not take the boy's statement because he was a minor. They called the man's ex-wife, she said it was none of her business, they called the man's brothers, about four of them all said the school should go ahead to bury him.
Eventually, the only person that answered, and was fit to write a statement, was the daughter of his ex-wife, who later even began regretting her decision, seeing how the man's body was being rejected by mortuaries, due to lack of family.
Now, this was a really painful story to hear and after hearing it, I thought 'Did the poor man actually deserve this, even in death?' The truth is that, no one actually deserves to be abandoned, when they die. But that actually is the harshness of life. There's no guarantee that all the people you believe have your back right now, will not turn their back on you, when the time comes. This man, had about four brothers but to them, his life wasn't worth celebrating, as was his death. When called all they said was 'you guys should go ahead and bury him'.
When I heard the story, I thought 'What did this man do to everyone around him, due to the people around him, during his lifetime, that made them dismiss him that way at death?' The truth is, he might have been a very bad person, he might have been a good soul, nobody knows. But is it actually possible that he just happened to be surrounded by people who saw his death as nothing more than a liability they weren't willing to take on, and dropped it on the shoulders of his sixteen year old son?
When I was being told the story, the narrator thought aloud "The only reason why he was being treated that way, was because he was a poor man". I actually agree with that logic because here in Nigeria, we see an old person's death as something worthy of celebration. The family of the deceased, throw parties, dress colourfully, prepare all delicacies and do whatever is needed. The celebration is even more when the deceased is a wealthy person. Relatives from far and wide gather in merriment. But in this man's case, at death, he was treated so poorly and if angels did feel, I wonder how he feels right now, having only his 16 years old son mourn him.
Thanks for reading
Image is mine