Death is death no matter who a person might have been in their time on this Earth.. Yes ‘who a person is’  is not the person we immediately perceive. It is the person that is projected to us through the help of what we as people choose to disguise, people’s opinions and people’s overall perception of us.

As I write this, it has not been officially announced but a lot of online sources report that our Malawian President Ngwazi Dr Bingu Wa Mutharika has passed away following a cardiac arrest on the morning of Thursday 05th April 2012 http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/04/2012466589324269.html. There have been varying opinions about this. For one people confidently stating that this is the prophecy that has come to pass (Prophet TB Joshua announced that an African leader was going to die. He refused to give further details apart from the fact that this leader was not from West Africa). Others say that they hope things in Malawi will get better etc… But I say regardless of who he was portrayed to be, he is a person who to some was a father meaning that he had children who are mourning, a husband to a wife who is also affected by the loss of her husband, a brother, an uncle, a grandfather… the list could go on.. to Malawians a leader, their President. I am not saying that he did not have his flaws neither am I proposing that everyone should act like they knew him personally.

It seems many have forgotten the good and only want to concentrate on the bad which is not how things should be. I may have enemies and people that dislike me but I would never wish death upon them.

I guess I am just saddened and disappointed at the reactions of people who chose to express such harsh comments but such is life and death is an inevitable part of it..

I am reminded of my sister’s facebook status quoting the first verse of Malawi’s national anthem “Oh God bless our land of Malawi. Keep it a land of Peace. Put down each and every enemy, hunger, disease envy. Join together all our hearts as one. That we’ll be free from fear. Bless our LEADER each and everyone, AND MOTHER MALAWI!!!”

That should be our vision and we should be unified and thinking of our country and praying for freedom from the nation’s current problems. It is not a time to rejoice as this is a time of mourning. Everyone’s life has a meaning and a purpose which brings me to my next point.. and in context with the day it is (Good Friday) and the season we are in  (Easter), we must be reminded of the disciple Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus’s disciples who in the end betrayed Him. Without his betrayal, Jesus would not have been killed on this day nor will he have risen on the third day. Christians would not have the gift of eternal life as the sacrifice would not be complete. Judas then committed suicide but he was also a person who’s life had meaning and who’s life had a purpose.

Let us not be filled with bitterness or hatred but instead compassion and sorrow for a child of God. Regardless of our opinion built upon  perception, no one should ever be condemned by our words or actions but instead loved for their beauty in which ever way it was seen; no matter when this beauty was seen. It is beauty none the less.