Social Musings: Playing God

Tom Sangala March 28, 2016

276 3 minutes read

Two years ago after the death of the former Miss Malawi, Faith Chibale, I wrote an article lamenting on the shocking aftermath of her demise. In the wake of Grace Chinga’ death, my sentiments remain:

24 March 2014

Playing the saint

It was a sad time in the country a week or so ago when we lost one of our beauty queens. Death is always a sad thing especially when it is of young, vibrant, phenomenal people. A lot was said after the death of the young lady that was shocking and saddening and at most very disappointing.

Many people witnessed the desecration of someone’s dead body especially on social media. The late beauty queen’s pictures were posted along with “eulogies” from every Tom, Dick and Harry who had a phone or laptop at their disposal.

I had met the late once or twice, as she was also friend to a friend, but I still wouldn’t say I knew her. And like most people it is only appropriate to say that I knew of her. What is shocking is the number of people who had never met the young lady, except for seeing her in the media because of her celebrity status that had a lot to say like they shared a house with her. It

was like they knew her like the palm of their hand.

Someone being a celebrity does not mean you know them, and it does not give you a right to disrespect their legacy or life. This lady had a family, and meant a lot to the people in her life just as every human being does and the loss of a life is always a deep loss to those that have shared their life with the deceased. Death is never a happy moment.

So the question I asked myself is why are people playing God? Why is it that people who call themselves “human” can go around more or less celebrating the death of a fellow human who did them no wrong, they did not even know this person. Is it envy? Or is it the devil inside? These are both sins, so who are you to conduct a judging expedition?

Last I checked, there is no mortal on earth that is a saint; even Pope Francis is not a saint. I am not a saint, nobody around me is a saint, and you are not a saint. Last I checked too, everywhere in the world, culturally death is not a cause for celebration. In our Malawian culture, a funeral is always respected and treated with humility.

Desecrating a dead body is wrong and it will never be right unless you are not a human being, but again last I checked we are all so called human beings on planet earth. Last I checked we shall all die and we all have people dear to us that will die as well; I do not think anyone will like it if a circus was made out of their funeral or their relatives’ funeral just because someone has a few cents to make noise on the internet or something.

These barbaric actions were deeply saddening and disappointing. They showed for one that people like to revel in other people’s misfortunes and misery. It also showed that we do not like it when other people rise in status; instead we try to find loopholes and bring them down. From a distanced angle such things may not seem to go far but taking a closer look one will see how this reflects on the country as a whole and the people in it.

It is the same way people in power spend too much time throwing jabs at each other instead of focusing on the development in the country. It is the same way people spend so much time insulting the leaders when they themselves fail to make initiatives around them. Pleasure is just derived from bringing someone else down. We fail to develop because of our own selves, each one of us.

It is also the same way the death of the former president, Bingu wa Mutharika was celebrated and his funeral desecrated by many. Now we have other people in power and they too are being insulted day in and day out. The question that should be asked is: are the leaders the problem or the pool they come from?

We have witnessed too many times the downfall of people who had a certain prominent status being celebrated and the deaths of others being ridiculed. They say if you have nothing good to say, say nothing. Since when are we to play God? Who are we to play God?

May the souls of the departed rest in eternal peace

I rest my case