Sankofa Creative competition #3- A O Ki n Beru Okunkun

This is my first time participating and I'm just a teenager but I love writing and this competition was very tempting. Perhaps i can become the youngest winner so far. So here I am giving it a shot.

       A o kin beru okunkun ki a yagbe sile (One doesn't fear darkness to the point of defeacating at home). People who have lived in homes without toilets in them would understand this better(perhaps the older generation). In such homes, one would have to go outside to defeacate. In such a home, a person who fears darkness and is pressed to defeacate at night wouldn't let his fear of darkness make him defeacate in the house, would he? I always understood this proverb to simply mean that one shouldn't allow his fears to make him suffer. I however got a deeper understanding of this proverb when I read a poem, Crossing the bar. In this article, I'd be refering to "okunkun" (darkness) as death.

Ever since the fall of man, death has been his insurmountable enemy. Death is inevitable for man and all men must die, as God was quoted to have said in the bible "from dust you came, to dust you shall return". Man's knowledge of the inevitability of death has however instilled a fear of death in man. I believe this is a very wrong attitude.Though lately fears are being polished into medical conditions called phobia which are accepted, I think fear is fear. The fear of death is regarded as necrophobia. The fear of death is however just as bad as death itself is.

A good example of when the fear of death proved to be as ghastly as death itself was the period of the ebola epidemic in Nigeria around 2014 or so. During this period, rumours surged through the nation about the ability of salt and even kolanut to kill the virus. Consequently, in fear, Nigerians begun, bathing in salt water, eating salt and kolanut and so on. In the end, many people ended up hospitalised and some wound up dead. The fear of Ebola killed as much people as ebola itself. Does this make fear a greater enemy of man than death?

Death is actually not so scary. A deeper understanding of death would mitigate or completely deplete one's fear of death. I've seen and read of various people who through their deep understanding of death demystify death. A great example is Alfred Lord Tennyson(Poet Laureate of England). After a near death experience on a short voyage across the Solent, where he fell sick, he wrote the poem, "Crossing the bar", in which he completely demystifies death.

Obviously jolted by the inevitability of death after this experience, he accepts the fact that the day of his death would certainly come. He says;
"Sunset and Evening star
One clear call for me"

Instead of being fearful, he chooses to be optimistic about death and pleads with people not to be sorrowful after his departure. He expresses his delight about finally getting to see his "Pilot", God, who had directed his entire life. He chooses to see the brighter side of things

The attitude of Alfred Lord Tennyson is rather laudable and is one we should all adopt. The inevitability of death should not brew fear in us. Instead, we should find solace in the fact that death is not the end but only a means to an end. I hope we can all rid ourselves of unnecessary fear. This brings to mind another Yoruba Proverb that says "Alatise lo mo atise ara re". All I can do is speak but its really your choice to take heed or not. I'll end on this note;
Abo oro to fun omo luabi(A word is enough for the wise.