Photo credit: Nairaland
I’m always fascinated at the fervour with which we prepare for funerals. So many people get into debts to bury their dead.
A Yoruba saying goes that if a fraction of the care and money spent on funerals is spent on the invalid, most people will not be dying unnecessary deaths.
And that’s true!
The old woman who did not have anyone to buy antibiotics for her, if she dies, will suddenly have hundreds of people mourning her. Where are these people from? The clothes and shoes she didn’t wear white alive would then be put on her carcass.
We are too mean!
Top musicians will be engaged to sing at the reception. The musicians in turn will be singing that they were sure the dead will enter heaven or aljannah. Unfortunately, not one of these songsters have gone there to confirm the veracity of their projections.
The children of the deceased too, who had not been available to take care of the person while they were alive, will dance their hearts out. At the reception, there will be nothing lacking in foods and drinks.
All for the funeral of someone who didn’t have a hundred naira in their account.
What concerns me is the state of our cemeteries. Except for the rich few who get buried in expensive private cemeteries, most of our cemeteries are just telling the dead that, ‘we don’t care for you’.
That’s why ritualists find it easy to make away with parts of the dead. They might even steal the whole body.
I should think caring for the dead is about the last respect we could give them. But in our society, den don care for living body?
In saner climes, respect for the dead is a must. People do go to cemeteries to lay flowers and even express their fond emotions.
Here, cemeteries are homes for men of the underworld. The earlier we changed our attitude, the better!
In any case, there’s no one of us that will pray for them not to die. The Yoruba have another saying, the best benefit you can do for the dead is to bury them.
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