BY: COMRADE LEWIS K. GLAY
WEDNESDAY MORNING OCTOBER 22 DID NOT GREET US WELL. A MISSED CALL FROM LARKPOR GONGLOE COULD NOT BE IGNORED, SO I PLACED BACK A RETURN CALL. ALL I HEARD WAS “LEWIS, V HAS DIED IN GHANA THIS MORNING! “WHAT?” I SAY V DIED IN GHANA THIS MORNING; I AM DISGRACED!”
NOTHING ELSE I COULD PONDER OVER OTHER THAN A MISSING LINK. I THEN RECOLLECTED MEMORIES OF SOME OF THOSE MOMENTS OF OUR COMRADESHIP. I KNOW OF THE INTIMACY THAT GLUED THE FOLLOWING GUYS AND MYSELF TOGETHER: D-MAX LEBOE, KEHLEBOE GONGLOE AND VOPEA GONGLOE. WE LEARNED THE HARD WAY. WE PLAYED FOOTBALL TOGETHER. WE SHARED COMMON THOUGHTS OF LOGIC AND REASONING, AND CHALLEGED HURDLES ALONG THE WAY. ABOVE ALL, WE RESPECTED THE NORMS OF SOCIETY AND HONORED THE ELDERLY. WE LABORED TO GAIN EDUCATION. SO, WE BECAME WHAT WE ARE TODAY.
UNFORTUNATELY, WHAT WE HAVE NO CONTROL OVER HAS HAPPENED. COMRADE VOPEA HAS LEFT THE CIRCLE OF COMRADESHIP. BUT WE OWE IT TO PAY HIM HOMAGE NO MATTER HOW DIFFICULT IT IS TO TELL A PROMISING FRIEND FAREWELL ON A JOURNEY THAT IS FULL OF WAILING AND SORROW.
VOPEA, VOPEA, VOPEA, VOPEA, WE WISH YOU WOULD ANSWER TO INTERACT IN FULFILLMENT OF OUR USUAL CONVERSATIONS. IN SPIRIT, D-MAX AND KEHLEBOE HAVE JOINED ME TO SAY YOUR DEPARTURE TO THE GREAT BEYOND PAINFULLY TOUCHES US AS IT IS WITH THE REST OF THE BEREAVED.
ASSUMING ONE WOULD DIE AND WAKE UP TO SEE WHAT UNFOLDS DURING THE PERIOD OF BEREAVEMENT, WE WOULD SUGGEST YOU WAKE UP NOW TO SEE WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING SINCE YOUR EXIT. INDEED, YOU WERE WELL CONNECTED; YOU TOUCHED THE LIVES OF SO MANY PEOPLE BEYOND FAMILY LINE. HENCE, YOUR DEMISE HAS CREATED GAPS.
IT IS STILL IMAGINED: WHAT WERE YOUR LAST WORDS BEFORE DEPARTING THIS TROUBLESOME WORD? FAR AWAY FROM YARWIN MEHNSONOH, FAR AWAY FROM MEHNSONOH; FAR AWAY FROM GLEHYEE ZORPEA; FAR AWAY FROM NIMBA COUNTY; FAR AWAY FROM MONROVIA, AND FAR WAY FROM LIBERIA , YOU WENT TO BED AT THE HANDS OF AILMENT THAT YOU VEHEMENTLY FOUGHT TO DEFEAT BUT DIDN’T THRIVE.
NOW THAT WE HAVE NO POWER OVER DEATH, UNDER THIS PRICKING CIRCUMSTANCE THAT WE CAN CALL YOU BUT DON’T GET ANY RESPONSE, ON BEHALF OF COMRADES D-MAX, KEHLEBOE AND ME; ACCEPT OUR WARMEST SALUTATION AS YOU ARRIVE IN THE NEXT WORLD.
TO THE BEREAVED: THE GONGLOES, THE VAYES AND THE PEOPLE OF GLEHYEE ZORPEA, WE PRAY THAT THIS LOST DOES NOT DISINTEGRATE US; RATHER LET IT STRENGTHEN OUR TIES AND COEXISTENCE AS A PEOPLE UNDER ONE BANANA TREE. IT IS INCREASINGLY NOT EASY TO QUICKLY OVERCOME THE IMPASSE OF DEATH, BUT GOD ALMIGHTY IS THE COMFORTER; HE WILL SURELY CONSOLE YOU ALL.
YET, AS DIFFICULT AND DISCOMFORTED AS WE SENSE THIS PERIOD OF MOUNING, EVIDENCED BY THE TEARFUL FACES OF SYMPATHIZERS AND THE BEREAVED FAMILIES, THE LEGACY OF COMRADE VOPEA WHICH BORDERS ON TEAMWORK, HOSPITALITY, PROBLEM-SOLVING AND ORGANIZATIONAL MANNERISM WILL EVER BE REMEMBERED.
ON THIS SHORT NOTICE OF DEPARTURE, WE TEND TO BELIEVE THAT COMRADE VOPEA HAS MET THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED, INCLUDING TEACHER WILFRED GONGLOE, OLDMAN FREEMAN GONGLOE, BROTHER LAYWHAYEE GONGLOE, BROTHER EDWARD GONGLOE AND OTHER PROMIMENT FAMILY MEMBERS AND CITIZENS OF GLEHYEE ZORPEA WHOSE DEATHS EQUALLY LEFT GREAT GAPS BEHIND.
NO DOUBT, WE MUST ACKNOWLEDGE THAT COMRADE VOPEA WAS A TRUE FRIEND. HE WILL BE MISSED. HE PLAYED HIS PART IN LIFE, FOUGHT A GOOD FIGHT, SERVED HUMANITY, STOOD IN THE GAPS FOR OTHERS. TODAY HE IS NO MORE. REST WELL, COMRADE VOPEA, UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN.