The Man Died: Tribute to Chinua Achebe

 

 

 

 

 

 

History never forgets those who die empty. To die empty is to have given one's best while alive. Martyrs, sages, heroes and heroine all share a common attribute. They die empty. A wise-man once said to me son " Do you know that the richest place on earth is the graveyard? It is because it is filled with people who never got to live their true calling for many reasons". In this piece, I salute the late Chinua Achebe. In my limited knowledge of him, I think this man did empty himself. I know this not because he wrote best sellers (writing is a veritable art form and a good way to empty oneself) but because he had a cause. He stood for something and was courageous enough to pursue it to the very end. While this commentary may be post-mortem, I have chosen to seize the very moment of his burial to express my thoughts on a great man.

 

 

 

At the time of writing this post, there are pockets of controversies on the man Achebe including myriads of battles on his cadaver. Its amazing how helpless we become once breath cease from our nasal cavity. Then, even those, we'd rather not see may suddenly begin to form familiarity. The late Achebe turned down the highly proliferated national honours by the Nigerian government on two different occasions with poignant reasons which made sense in all ramifications. Now the same government is now forming familiarity. Life is interesting indeed.

 

 

 

While on this side of the divide, Achebe made such giant strides in multiple fields. His works and thoughts has inspired and still inspire a generation  of writers, poets, politicians and performers. I have read a couple of his books and I'd be doing a great dis-service not to reckon with his brilliance. Achebe was a great man. When I read his personal history of the Nigerian civil war, I did with an open mind. This (reading the book with an open mind) was expedient because of the dissenting views on and reviews of the book and the man. At the end of it all, I couldn't but salute the courage of a great story teller and a poet extraordinaire. Overall, the book helped me to satisfy nature's call for serendipity. The elders say that "Not to know what happened before you were born is to remain a child forever". There is nothing acrimonious about the book "There Was a Country" other than the fact that it was a personal story. I am sure like anything man-made, it will be possible to extract elements of imperfection but I choose to salute the courage and grace of a man.

 

 

 

In conclusion, like many heroes past, the voice of Achebe is telling us something even today. The echoes of the past is telling us to rise from the shackles of self inflicted pain and unbridled selfishness and greed amongst other things that beset us. We are highly inexcusable for the outcomes. The power to become is ultimately ours. It will be wise for us to choose life.

 

  

Adieu Achebe.

 

 

 

Image Credit: Google