I do not know whether the title of this piece ought to be ‘’confronting my mortality or immortality’’ as it appears here but whatever is the correct thing hardly matters. What does is the thought that has started nagging my mind which I want to share with readers.
I am barely in my early 60s and do not have to worry too much about my death. But I think it is from this age and onwards that most men and women begin to entertain the reality that may be their days on the earth are not too far away even for some of us who pray that I should live up to 120 years as Moses the servant of God lived before he yielded the place for others.
For me, the reality to start numbering my days hit me at the All Nigeria Editors Conference which held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State from November 14-18. I saw two elderly born journalists who seem to have sworn that they will die recognized as journalists first and foremost. These men are the founder and publisher of the Vanguard Newspapers, Chief Sam Amuka, 88, whose pet name is Sad Sam and who the compare at the event Mr. Charles … said should change his name to Happy Sam as his forays in journalism and his logevity should give him cause to be a happy man. The second man is the former Governor of Ogun State and one of the foremost reporters this country has produced, Chief Segun Osoba, 84.
The devotion of both men to the profession of journalism is unrivalled. Chief Osoba in particular, as far as I can remember, has attended every ANEC in the past ten or more years, making an unconscious, or is it conscious, declaration that he will die a journalist and his foremost chief mourners should be journalists with whom he has shown such great solidarity. What strikes about these two men is their agility, the quality of their minds. They climb the steps up and down the platform and sit through all the papers presented and making quality contributions which show the level of their able comprehension.
But when I considered their ages, it occurred to me that the twosome are lucky or blessed men for the average age which most people who are considered to have lived long in our clime die is 75 and from the way they looked and acted at the ANEC in Uyo, they are set to reach their nineties or even beyond.
But while admiring their staying powers, I started wondering that even if I will live to reach their present ages, I do not have many years down the line if you think seriously about it. That is just about twenty something years from now which I consider too short for the time I need to make the type of impact God has destined me to make in my life. This thought hit me hard.
You start looking at your children more deeply and asking which one you need to groom to succeed you. You start looking at the things God has given to you such as houses and be wondering how your children will mange them for their own good and the good of others. You start thinking about Mother Nigeria. How will she change between now and that time. Will she be better or worse? You wonder.
So many thoughts now enter your mind. How will your funeral be? Will the usual glorious elegies be sang of your life or will there be some who will say, let something more be learnt from your life?
You begin to wonder what life is all about. What did we come to do on the earth? The teachers say we came so we can glorify the Lord and you ask yourself, did I do just that? You also wonder where you will go to in the great beyond. Is it to heaven or the other dreadful place? The answer for me is heaven. I am a candidate for heaven. Ever since I became born-again, I have tried to live my life as one destined to enjoy eternal life. That goal has been pursued with great devotion and care such that I have no hesitation in my life that an angel has already been assigned to guide to heaven!
