Last night at 00h59, I was awakened by my telephone. I normally sleep through phone calls as my phone is on silent. However, this one awakened me.
I looked at the pho
ne. It was one of the teachers from my school, who is a dear colleague, and very good friend, Lutfi. Mr. Lutfi is a coruscating educator who has really excelled this year. He proceeded to inform me that he was at the airport about to leave the country. His wife had just died a few hours before in Sudan. He was flying home since, because he is a devout Muslim, the funeral will be today. He has seven kids and the youngest was born only recently. Stunned, in shock, somnolent, and half asleep, I offered my condolences. I then woke up and tried to phone him back but could not reach him on his mobile.
When I awoke this morning to go running, I thought I had had a nightmare. I had to double check my phone to see if the calls had really happened. Unfortunately, these calls were all too real.
My friend Lutfi is a man's man. He is gentle soul whom I count as one of my closest friends, though we have only known each other for nine months. This is just a tragedy. It serves to remind me how short and precarious this life is. I am taking this as a lesson to try to let those close to me know as often as I can how special each of my friends and family members are to me. We are each in a state of senescence and only on this planet for a finite amount of time. There is a saying in SePedi: Motho ke motho ka batho. (Loosely translated, it means a person is a person because of other people.) So to all my family and friends, just know that at this moment, you are in my thoughts. You are valued, treasured, and loved.
P.S. This picture is of Lutfi doing extra work with two students and teaching them to use a dictionary. It was taken on Thursday.
8 comments:
good blog. nice content
Thank you Rich. Yes, we are in this hearth for passage; and all things in this hearth are transience. So u have to hug on thing that won't pass a way. And u have to get advantage:doing is good things, loving our closes.....
Very true, i also expirienced that we should never leave the things for tomorrow if we can do today. Tomorrow can be too late ...or never come !
"If tomorrow never come have you known how much I miss you"
You are right ,we can draw lesson from this and it reminds us that we are here just for a while and just like a puff of smoke and that we should stick to Jesus as he said"I am the way the truth and the life, no one goes to the Father except by me'.My wish is that we will all welcome him at his coming in the sky soon.
Nobody can predict the day when he or she is going to die. But it is just a step in our life as brutal that it can be...how are we going to die is maybe not the good question to ask but where are we going after death that is important to know. oday many persons die from crash plane, car accidents diseases, who knows? But in my case as a strong beiever I will tink about my spirit , my soul.The Jesus says that: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life". The Bible is clear God doesnt want us to die but to have eternal life. I am conviced that I will go to paradise after my life in this earth. But before leaving this place I want to be able to accomplish all my wishes and be close to those that I love. God bless y`all!!!
When you lose someone that's the time you get to know how much they meant to you and wish you did something differently.... so let those who are close to you know how much they mean to you,get to appreciate them and don't take them for granted! Enjoy your life to the best you can but do it right! To your friend...may he have strength and courage to get through this and take care of his family the right way and may he be blessed in all he does!
What u said is very true,i have lost someone who was truly precious to me and this year it is going to make five years since my mother passed away and i am glad that though she has passed away i have all the treasured memories and souvenirs of her that i still hold dear to my heart.
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