EDDIE KWABI - A FRIEND TO REMEMBER, A BROTHER TO MISS

 EDDIE KWABI - A FRIEND TO REMEMBER, A BROTHER TO MISS

Late Eddie Kwabi 

There is something disorderly about the death of a young person. In a universe disturbed by so much over which we have no control, an untimely tragedy – such as the passing of 32 year old Eddie Kwabi - rattles the teeth of our already shaken confidence. (Faye Moskowtiz’s quote rephrased)

It is the morning of the second day of May, twenty twenty; Edward Kwabi should be lying within the confines of his narrow wooden bed by now, ready to make his last public appearance before taking that eventual stroll into a new life in eternity. I find myself trapped in my room, reflecting on Eddie’s passing and wondering what to say. The season in which we are has also robbed us of the opportunity to even congregate as friends and see him off.

The mere mortals that we are, some are wont to think and classify this call and the physical loss of such a gem as too sudden but ‘His thoughts are not our thought, neither are His ways our ways’.

Eddie and I were in GIJ together at a point, we were not tight friends while on campus though; he had his circle of friends and I had mine. We rather became closer after leaving school and that must be because we ended up on the same alumni page where ‘boys and girls’ mingled, had fun, reflected on life on campus and peeped into the future hand-in-hand with so much confidence and hope.  

From school, I drifted towards Public Relations practice while Eddie landed and remained in mainstream journalism. He excelled and was fast rising when the uncertainties in life swung in his direction, bundled him off and truncated that promising career.

You know how important media and media contacts are to PR practice right? He made my PR work easier. He was just a phone call away. He could book and block interview slots for you at the snap of your fingers; he could arrange media coverage for you with cheeky ease without subjecting you the hassle that came with upfront payment. He was a walking phone directory. He put his links and expertise at the disposal of his friends. I am a grateful beneficiary of Eddie’s near-perfect human relations and friendship.

Eddie dressed and carried himself like a real gentleman, he reasoned intelligently and oh, he kept our alumni page alive, sometimes, he literally set it ablaze with his sense of humour, refined and light-hearted jokes. Alphonse de Lamartini’s said – “sometimes when one person is absent, the whole world seems depopulated’, I think I am making more sense of this expression now.

It was Marcus Tullius Cicero who also said, ‘the life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living’. Death thinks it can take you away from us, but it doesn’t know that you will always live in our memory. Brother, God has you in his arm, we have you in our hearts and minds.

Father in thy gracious keeping leave we now thy servant sleeping.

Published on Saturday May 2, 2020