I love old school music. The older the better. I love to travel back in time as often as I can and whenever possible, to put myself in a time capsule for a while. This allows me sometimes, to revel in the costumes and culture of a time. I often pause in the middle of a song to remember where I was when the song first came to my consciousness and who I was with. Other times, a refrain or a phrase simply triggers something sentimental or wistful. Then my mind wanders, usually with a smile on my lips. Almost every old song has a story behind it for me. There is, like the Diana Ross classic song ?Always something there to remind me.?

So there I was, ensconced ?in my world? on this day and working on my computer while being ?surrounded? by old school music from a play list. But I was not ?bursting loose? to quote a favourite song. Actually, my heart was heavy. I put it down to the fact that I had just come home from the 7th day Fidau Prayer/Lecture for Alhaji Tola Animashaun. Tola, a retired PermSec in Lagos State, wasn?t exactly my buddy ? he was a cousin to a close family friend. But he was always warm and affectionate whenever we met. Besides, he had reached out to me countless times on my column. We were of the same age bracket so it was inevitable that we would have mutual friends. He always had a joke or two to share with me each time we met at occasions. It was thus an honour to be part of his funeral rites. The Fidau Prayer was this rainy Tuesday which made the Chief Imam to say ?we are all scampering for cover from the rain. But Tola is out there in the open; unprotected. Neither the rain nor the sun makes any difference to him anymore.? It was a statement that was to weigh heavily on me as I went home. I thought of this tall, lanky man with his effervescent spirit lying prostrate in the rain and wondered at this sad turn of fate that took many of us by surprise. A fate that awaits all of us.

The music was to lighten my mood and it did for a while. Then a song, totally innocuous by itself in a different setting, came on and ?flipped the disc?. This is a song that should have brought sentimental memories cascading. ?For The Good Times? is one of those 70s songs that deal with lovers separating. It is a song I have listened to many times over the years. ?Don?t look so sad. I know it is over?. It starts, ?but life goes on and the whole world will keep on turning?. What has always been a simple, romantic song was in my state, given an ominous twist, making me now to wonder why life doesn?t stop when you are grieving. Even for a minute to acknowledge that someone has just lost the closest person to them. Someone?s world has just crashed, yet the sun will rise as it should. The rain will fall as it should ? as it is the case of Tola Animashaun. Market women will continue their banter as they should. CNN will continue its bland broadcasts as it should. The stock market will rise and fall as it should. It is sobering to realize that one?s death whether as a pauper, prince or president will not significantly alter any of these things. The wheel of life will keep on turning as it always does. Nature is bland or apathetic at best to unfolding events. It could even be seen as outright cynical and cruel depending on one?s state of mind. My state of mind that Tuesday afternoon certainly wasn?t helped when I impulsively checked my phone as I was trying to recompose my thoughts for this write-up and saw a post announcing the death of someone who was two years my junior in school on the set platform. Another obituary announcement was to be made of yet another junior before the day was over. This time, a year behind me. This period has been particularly bad for me in terms of deaths ? and I know I am not the only one. The past month has virtually seen an obituary every day with two funerals per week on the average. Dr. Doyin Abiola?s funeral last week brought fond memories as I remembered my various encounters with her. And on Monday, I head to Abuja for the final rites of Chief Audu Ogbeh, a man who has been part of my life for decades. ?Lord, teach us to number our days so we can apply our hearts to wisdom?, says the Holy Book. Thus, it is wisdom to accept one?s mortality and folly to discount or even ignore the ceaseless tolling of father time.

The song, ?For The Good Times? continues, ?I?ll get along. You will find another?. That is what we all do in life ? and death. Not just in romance. It is called survival. That is the mode I am trying to set my mind to now as I endeavor to number my days and apply the remaining years to wisdom. An older friend in his early 80s told me that out of 25 classmates who formed a WhatsApp group a few years ago, only two were remaining. That is the reality of life in a particular age bracket. What is important should no longer be the years left but what we pack into those years ? a friend?s greeting usually ends with ?enjoy what?s left?. It is now about tweaking things so we can be remembered positively.

That is why I am bemused at our political leaders who are jostling for power in far-away 2027 rather than seize the moment to do what they can for their people and for humanity. They are, in the main, in their 70s and older. Statistics surrounding death in Nigeria don?t favour those in that age bracket. It appears they are so blinded by ambition and power that they believe they have the magic wand to cancel death. Yet, death is no respecter of persons. It doesn?t recognize who is in office or out of it. My advice is for them is to do whatever they can now for their people and for posterity ? they don?t necessarily have to be in office to do that. Some of them might be gone by 2027. And life will go on, even with their spouses and close associates. It always does.

? Muyiwa Adetiba is a veteran journalist and publisher. He can be reached via titbits2012@yahoo.com

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