The flags are flying at half-mast as should be the case when bereavements like we experienced a couple of days ago occur. Our hearts are heavy with grief as we consider the passage to eternity of one of our compatriots, one whose contribution towards his motherland was immense; and one who eventually ended up in the highest office of the land.
John Evans Atta Mills died while still bearing the flag as Commander-In-Chief of the Republic of Ghana and deserves the respects which go with such an achievement.
One oak (tree) has fallen after exhausting its lifespan as ordained by the Creator, headed for the hereafter.
We are encouraged by the show of solidarity and the visible sheathing of the swords of partisan politics at this time, so we can together inter the former president?s mortal remains.
Night has fallen for a man who played his part and left the stage for others to continue. Former President Kufuor said it all when he called on his compatriots to join hands in according this departed and distinguished Ghanaian the respect that he justifiably deserves.
The funeral that stares us in the face, as former President Kufuor rightly said, does not belong to the deceased?s family alone but to all Ghanaians because after all, the president of a nation as one in whose hands the resources and direction of the nation are bestowed for management in trust, represents the face of the country.
Although the late president nonetheless belongs to a family, now bereaved and naturally feeling the pain more than others, we too belong to a country over which he presided, and therefore share in the grief.
As we mourn, we should resolve to do what would gladden the spirit of the departed compatriot- forging together as citizens of one nation with one destiny- lest he squirms in his final resting place.
Coming to the end of the journey on earth is always a sad thing to befall a family, but when it does for a nation, everything virtually comes to a standstill.
The leaves are still and the birds remain perched on tree branches, refusing to take to the air. Comets appear to have heralded the sad development. We recall the first stanza of the classic 1751 Elegy Written in a Country Courtyard by Thomas Gray as a poetic presentation of the mood of the nation as we fly the national flag at half mast:
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day;
The lowing herd wind slowly o?er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness, and to me.
It is nightfall for a man who was once like us and who all of the living would someday join.
John Evans Atta Mills, rest in peace in the bosom of the Omnipotent and Omniscient God.
