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23.05.2014 Feature Article

YOUR VOICE STILL LINGERS ON, BRO!

YOUR VOICE STILL LINGERS ON, BRO!
23.05.2014 LISTEN

'Let no one weep for me, or celebrate my funeral with mourning; for I still live, as I pass to and fro through the mouths of men' - Quintus Ennius.

It was only some few days after the October, 2002 admission to SOGASCO that I met you, Wisdom Amediku (aka Lord Zih). This became pretty quick and easy because we were both Science students despite being in different classrooms as well as your readiness to reach out to others.

As we journeyed through the first term of the academic year, we got closer and closer and eventually became friends. Apart from being in the same academic programme, we later found another deeper sense of togetherness when I got into the boarding house: I joined the Scripture Union (SU) on campus in which you were already an active member. As fate would have it, in our final year, you became the President of this venerable Union and I became its Secretary.

Wisdom, I can't forget about your leadership abilities which came forth blossoming right from our early days in School like the ever beautiful sun rays of the African weather. Indeed, the glorious leadership acumen you and your team exhibited compelled me to make that statement which to date is used by some of our classmates anytime we meet to indicate how frustrated I became at a time with their behaviour. On one such hectic occasion, I advised my colleagues to emulate you and your mates because your class exhibited an admirable sense of comportment contrarily to what pertains in mine.

One leadership lesson which you have re-echoed almost always, to me, is the focus on one's core competence. There were countless instances when you insisted that each of us engage in specific tasks based on one's individual competitive advantage at all times to ensure higher productivity. I must hasten to add that great results had almost never eluded us in such circumstances.

Our friendship grew stronger by the years. It was a great time we shared in the company of other colleagues. Certainly, I can't forget the GT Clan members! The Clan whose name discovery was courtesy Paramuzu's then 'kindergarten' Ewe knowledge wants to hear from you, Zih!

Lord Zih, your demonstration of immeasurable energy at any group activities can never elude our thoughts. Despite your average body size, you always prove to be the man to beat in the performance of communal school physical activities. When your physical strength could not carry you, you cannily brought on board the power of the spoken word. Oh yeah! Your voice has never failed you in such instances. Awizzy, it is you I mourn this day.

Lord Zih, on the 1st of May, 2014, I was preparing to leave for the airport en route to Ghana when I decided to check up what's trending on Facebook. Only to my greatest shock and dismay, your not only sudden but also untimely and devastating demise greeted me. As expected, I couldn't believe it and so had to contact some close friends back home. That morning, I was having some difficult emotional challenges that I was grumbling with only to be worsened by this nothing but highly unpalatable and shattering news. Until that morning, I knew we will have the opportunity to meet when am home since we couldn't make it at the last time (about 3 months ago) when we planned to meet. Bro, little did I know you won't be around for us to have that chat about our collective future plans. Many are the dreams we shared and the aspirations we hoped for. Lord Zih, why should the light dim so early? It's too early in the day of our life for you to go. No, this is certainly not the time despite my belief that our day of death slowly beckons us after our day of birth has been announced on earth.

I know Elizabeth Kübler-Ross once said that: 'Watching a peaceful death of a human being reminds us of a falling star; one of a million lights in a vast sky that flares up for a brief moment only to disappear into the endless night forever' but I thought yours will be exceptional and that you will still come back after a stint in the so-called endless night. Lord Zih, do you know why I am that optimistic? It is because both you and I have learnt during our Science lessons that to every rule, there's an exception! Lord Zih, I have waited patiently that you will be the exception in this case but till this day, my hope kept diminishing and in just some few hours from now, you will be sent to the city of the dead. What a catastrophe!

Lord Zih, you have left behind pointers of trust, a forgiving spirit, the enviable attitude of discipline and above all unity and love for one another. Your call for discipline, indeed, comes to the fore anytime you were on week. Worthily, Scapula will often assign you to be on week because of his trust in you to deliver! Undoubtedly, your times as senior on duty almost always brought most students on their toes since they know you are the no-nonsense boss of the week.

Death, it is said, 'is a distant rumour to the young' as thought by Andrew A. Rooney. However, you have heard this rumour too early. Lord Zih, why was yours so close? Certainly, not now, Lord Zih! A kind heart he was. A gem of our time has heard this rumour too young. A jewel he was. In him, we saw a great soul.

In this moment of this great lose, I can't think of anything else but to keep hoping that you will Return If Possible (RIP). As the days pass by without hearing your ever huge and buoyant voice full of life, I heard an older version of it. In this you were saying 'God is good' and as I did during our SOGASCO days, I can only reply 'All the time'. Certainly, your death is beyond our comprehension but the reverberation of your sound bites in my ears reaffirms, to me, that the Lord our God is always good and has done onto you what in His thought and sight, a good thing. I believe this because you have served our Maker in the days of your life. I see you having greater laughter, much joy and sporadic happiness because you are enjoying the fruit of your labour on earth for Serena rightly asserted that 'the day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity'.

As Jean Giraudoux Amphitryon aptly asserted 'I'm not afraid of death. It's the stake one puts up in order to play the game of life', I am of the greatest believe that you were not afraid to die. What you were afraid of is the fact that the world will not have the opportunity to behold the greatness that will follow your trail on earth. Indeed, very soon, all the momentous aspirations and dreams you have will be carried and laid peacefully in the Agbeve Cemetery. What a tragedy! What a loss to the world!

Lord Zih, since you took in your last breath on earth, our eyes and hearts have been filled with uncontrollable and endless amount of tears and sadness. It has been so hard-hitting for us but we take solace from the admonition of George Eliot that; 'Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them'.

Lord Zih, you will always be on my mind and heart. Forever, you will be an epitome of what a determined person is. As Dr. Richard Mawuli Letsa who you gladly call "twin bro" suggested, we will endeavour, in the coming years, to build on your impressive legacy by celebrating you through the Wisdom Amediku Asthma Foundation.

To us the living, Mignon McLaughlin in The Neurotic's Notebook, posited that 'The death of someone we know always reminds us that we are still alive - perhaps for some purpose which we ought to re-examine'. Wisdom has rightly finished his race set before him by our Maker. Let us, the living, re-examine ourselves today since the lifeless body of Wisdom speaks to us of the possibility of us following him any time soon.

Wisdom Kofi McBilson Amediku, I hear your words of caution to me this day through our elder brother Timothy that: 'I have fought the good (worthy, honourable, and noble) fight, I have finished the race, I have kept (firmly held) the faith. [As to what remains] henceforth there is laid up for me the [Victor's] crown of righteousness [for being right with God and doing right], which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me and recompense me on that [great] day-and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved and yearned for and welcomed His appearing (His return) - 2 Timothy 4:7-8 (Amplified Version of the Bible).

Wisdom Amediku,
Return If Possible. If not, Rest in the Perfect Peace of our Lord!

Fare thee well, worthy comrade!
Hede nyuie!
Dzidzor le nutifafa me!!!

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