LIFE IS SHORT………” – Brig Gen Dan Frimpong

INTRODUCTION – CRICKET

Names like Sir Gary Sobers (West Indies), Sachin Tendulkar (India), Sir Ian Botham (England), Imran Khan (Pakistan) and Brian Lara (West Indies) are not known by most Ghanaians. This is because CRICKET is not a very popular sport in Ghana. Indeed, even at its peak in the 1960s and 1970s, it was played in only a few secondary schools. Rightly or wrongly it was, and still is considered an elitist game played by the elite. In Accra, only Achimota School played cricket. In Kumasi, Prempeh College and Opoku Ware were the two schools which played cricket. Cape Coast had Mfantsipim, St. Augustines and Adisadel playing while in the Western Region, only the Ghana Secondary Technical School (GSTS) played cricket. In effect, all Ghana’s cricketers came from the half a dozen schools mentioned. Incidentally, cricket was a legacy bequeathed by Britain to its former colonies of Ghana, Gambia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. For my classmates and I who entered the secondary school in the mid 1960s, cricket was the first sporting activity we were introduced to in the first term. Naturally, it made a great impact on all of us with cricket becoming a passion.

PHILLIP HUGHES

Not surprisingly, on account of cricket’s unpopularity in this country, the sudden death of the twenty-five year old Australian international cricketer Phillip Hughes yesterday did not make headline news in Ghana. In the cricket playing world however, Thursday 27 November 2014 will forever remain a dark day in cricket history; a day of tragedy for the game. Two days earlier on Tuesday 25 November 2014, while playing in a match in Sydney in his native Australia, the twenty-five year old rising star in international cricket, was struck by a ball on his neck. He fell immediately and lost consciousness. In spite of being promptly lifted by helicopter for surgery, he did not come out of the unconsciousness. He died yesterday Thursday 27 November 2014. The effect of the impact of the ball on his neck has been likened to that sustained by a car racing driver on his head in a high speed crash.

Somehow, in recent times, I have developed an extra liking for the Gospel Musician Bernice Offei’s song “Life is Short.” Apart from the impact of the lyrics on me, I find the words so apt. In a very simple way, she reminds us and emphasizes the shortness or transience of life – from birth, through adolescence to adulthood, old age and inevitably death. Probably that accounts for my recent near addiction to the song on YouTube.

HORATIO SPAFFORD – IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL

The tragic death of the twenty-five year old Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes also reminded me of a regular song often sung during funeral church services   ”It is well with my soul.” The song which was composed by Philip Bliss was based on a tragedy that befell an American family in the early 1870s. Horatio Spafford was a very well known and wealthy lawyer in Chicago, Illinois, USA. In 1870, he lost his only son, aged four, to scarlet fever. Soon after that in 1871, a fire incident which became known as the Great Fire of Chicago completely burnt out his real estate property. All his investments got wiped out. To take a break from these misfortunes, Spafford decided going on a holiday in England with his family in 1873. At the appointed time for departure, he got delayed by Business. He therefore sent his wife Anna and their four daughters ahead. On 22 November 1873, while crossing the Atlantic in their ship Ville de Havre, they were struck by another ship the Loc Ean. Two hundred and twenty-six people lost their lives including all the four daughters of Mr and Mrs Spafford. Anna Spafford miraculously survived. On arrival in England, she sent her husband a telegram beginning with the words “Saved Alone…..”

Spafford then set sail for England himself. It is said that, it was when their ship got to the point of the accident and subsequent drowning of his daughters that Spafford wrote the words of the popular hymn “It is well with my Soul.” The first verse and the refrain are as follows.

“When peace like a river attended my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll,

Whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say

It is well with my soul.”

               REFRAIN: It is well (It is well,)

With my soul (With my soul,)

It is well, it is well with my soul.”

2014

The year 2014 has not been a kind year. Too many times, I have heard Bernice Offei”s “Life is short” as well as Horatio Spafford/Philip Bliss’ It is well with my soul” at funeral services. Among the many who left us in 2014, my good friend and mate Brig Gen Richard Debrah was called to eternity at the age of sixty-five. Another mate Maj George Sarpong lost his elder brother Maj Charles Sarpong. He managed the Biblical three score and ten! Perhaps, more painful on account of their relative youth were the deaths of two thirty-five year old youngsters. “Chief,” the son of my mate Brig Gen Emmanuel Okyere was called to eternity. In September 2014, my wife and I had to travel to Warri, Delta State of Nigeria for the funeral of the thirty-five year old daughter of our family friends Brig Gen and Mrs Dominic Oneya. She was cold bloodedly murdered by armed robbers! This was only two weeks after she had visited us here in Accra.

The deaths of the two thirty-five year olds, “Chief” in Ghana and Frances in Nigeria, as well as that of the twenty-five year old Australian international cricketer Phillip Hughes in a routine cricket match, brought back memories of our son Nana Osei (Apoot) who was called to eternity in 2009 at the age of twenty-seven. It also reminded me of the words of Bernice Offei’s song “Life is Short” which say;

“Life is so short……….. It passes so quickly and soon is gone………

Life is like a little flower. Today it’s here, tomorrow it’s gone…….

So don’t chase after riches and power…. Because they will fail you…….

So remember your Creator while you have breath…. “

BERNICE OFFEI – LIFE IS SHORT  

The question that has constantly baffled me is what Bernice Offei alludes to in her song………..GREED! Why has greed taken over our lives with the endless chase after riches and power? Why do people steal and accumulate wealth as if they will permanently remain on this earth, and never die? Why the arrogant show of power and total disrespect for fellow human beings? Well, as Bernice says “Life is short…….. So remember your Creator while you have breath…..”

As 2014 draws to a close, may the souls of all who departed for higher glory during the year rest in peace. Richy, Charles, “Chief,” Frances and the international cricketer Phillip Hughes in far away Australia, as well as the many who are not mentioned here, REST IN PERFECT PEACE!! And do not forget to send our greetings to our dear son Nana Osei (Apoot or Boloo ) for us!! Like Horatio Spafford, we will be consoled by the hymn:

“When peace like a river attendeth my way……..

When sorrow like sea billows roll…………

Whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say………

IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL.”

dkfrimpong@yahoo.com

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