WHAT IF I DIE?

        These words are not meant to say the last word on anything. I am quite sure that many have written a lot on death, but everyone from their own perspective depending on how they experienced or perceived it. There are a few events in life which we experience or rather they happen to us once in life, death and birth are some of them. Once we come out of our mothers' womb  we never go back there, and once we grow old there is nothing like (becoming babies again) growing backward. The same is said about death, we never die twice. Once you are declared dead, IT IS OVER.!!! The end of the story about you. Now what can we say on death? What is it? Is there any explanation which may tell in detail about death such that we will not ask any more questions on death?

           A lot of people have died but we don't get used to such experience. We are never at easy on hearing that our dear ones have kicked the bucket. There are a lot of questions on death. Is there any particular age at which one has to die? Where? How? What will be the cause of your death? What will happen when you die? WHERE WILL YOU GO? What about the plans you had before your death. What will become of them? Everyone has plans for the future (even nursery school children). But something interesting about our plans is that we never include death. We plan doing this, that, going to that place, meeting so and so etc. but we rarely think of death in our plans.
            Though we may pretend to ignore death it is a fact that at some particular time we must die as Qoeheleth says that there is time to be born and time to die (time for everything). Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. Sometimes when the notion of death comes to our mind or better when we lose our dear ones we are like, ooooh all things that are done under the sun and all our toil is vanity, a chase after the wind. This comes to our minds because it is never easy to accept that one has died at whatever age. On Friday (31.June, 2013) at around 9PM I was in the same situation. I received the sad news that Mwalimu Frank Mwanyangalla, a man with 4 kids, one who was more than just a friend and brother to me had died. At some moment I thouught it was not possible how could God allow that to happen? How could He let this young man die at that age?
             All the plans I had with him have come to nothing. Is this not vanity? All his schooling (he was a teacher, journalist, pro life leader, volunteer, activist and psychology student) have come to an end. Is this not a chase after the wind? Even when we had a requiem mass for him my mind could not accept what my senses presented. Speaking on Frank's death Fr. Luitfrid (Director of Radio Ukweli Fm-Morogoro) at the mass which was presided over by Fr. Lugome and other 6 priests he said that there is no one who can say that he/she is a conqueror of death. The is nobody who is so much strong, or is used to, such that whenever sad news about death comes to them they receive with a smiling face, or they remain at easy without fear or tension. About when we will die and how or why it is not something that should bother us some much. What should crack our minds is how do we live here on earth. WE SHOULD ALWAYS BE READY TO FACE DEATH. Ask yourself  WHAT  IF I DIE?

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