The year was 1992, a cool December night at the Arts Centre. My drama group (Theatre Mirrors) was performing a play entitled ‘The Trial of Nelson Mandela’. I was seated at the rear of the audience, a packed house, enjoying the show.
I noticed that scene change over at one stage was unusually too long – what is happening? I rushed to the backstage to see Adu George, the stage manager, acting as Nelson Mandela sprawled on the floor, water being poured on him, shouting the name of his girlfriend – Esther Boateng, Esther Boateng, totally drunk.
“Oh, my God!!” I exclaimed.
“Captain, don’t worry. Let us put chalk on your hair to look like an old man and go on stage as Nelson Mandela. We will talk about this at post mortem on Monday.
“Post what?”
“Capito, post mortem!!!”
All over the world, from time immemorial, medical science has it that anytime a person dies, the pathologist will perform a post mortem examination to establish the cause of death.
I was shocked when reading the life history of Julius Caeser who was stabbed to death by 16 conspirators on the Ides of March 44BC, it was recorded that a post mortem examination of Caeser’s body established that the cut by his son Marcus Brutus was the most fatal of all the sword thrusts.
When Colonel Gaddafi was killed in 2011, doctors performed a post mortem operation on his corpse before releasing it for burial.
After the president had lifted the lockdown, a senior lawyer in our law chambers told me, “Captain, I have made a post mortem of the lockdown” – I exploded into an uncontrollable laughter.
The very first finding is that is the pandemic from God? Or the devil? Or from human activities?
There are two powerful forces controlling this world – forces of good represented by the Almighty God and the forces of evil, under the thumb of the devil. As a born-again Presbyterian Christian, I believe strongly that nothing can happen in this world unless the Almighty God allows it.
A journalist friend of mine forcefully argued that God sent the pandemic to rid the world of too much homosexualism – it is an abomination in the sight of God so, look at the evidence the epicentre of the pandemic – US, Spain, Italy… areas endemic with so-called gay rights.
The second lesson is that the pandemic exposed the so-called prophets, apostles and so on. If they can predict that a big politician will die or NPP will win the forthcoming elections, why couldn’t even one of them prophesy that darkness will be over the world for the months of March and April, and church doors closed, streets deserted?
Conventional wisdom is that don’t go to any fortune teller or seer to tell you anything. Concentrate on the Holy Bible, study it carefully, pray regularly and the Almighty God will act as your guide, ALWAYS—through thick and thin.
Thirdly, family ties were strengthened. Thanks to the pandemic, all husbands stayed at home with their wives, no more late night meetings in the office, going on ‘trek’ and other convenient excuses to stay away from home. On a lighter note, we should start planning today for baby boom in December/January.
Our attitude to marriages and funerals was severely breached by the pandemic. Why must there be a mammoth crowd at your wedding? Why can’t a few family members go to bury the dead? All the morgues were full and overflowing.
As the days wore on, the world became wiser each day. The coronavirus pandemic is a respiratory ailment, and that means how strong is your heart? Reader, stop smoking! Carry out regular physical exercises – do plenty of walking daily and be in form.
Let us check the environment we live in – cleanliness, plenty of trees and flowers – they absorb the carbon dioxide. Let us check air pollution, defecation on open fields…
On the economy, the forces of demand and supply were thrown overboard, oil prices plummeted almost to zero and those countries that over rely on others for sustenance were badly hit.
We must grow what we eat and insist on eating what we grow. Self-reliance is key in every economic prosperity agenda.
Radio and television cashed in on the pandemic. With people at home not going anywhere, the only pastime was listening to the radio or watching television.
Operators of night clubs, drinking bars and hotels bore the brunt of the pandemic since they are the hotbeds for the temptation to evil. I am a hotelier, so I am prejudiced in this case.
The lessons are legion, but for lack of space let me end with the need for reserves. As a family, as an individual, there must always be reserves – not only in cash but also in everything – food, consumables, fuel and all– just in case the unexpected happens.
May God in His mercy spare mankind another experience of global lockdown for as long as there is summer and winter, day and night, sunshine and rainfall. Allow us the liberty, Father, to move freely about, by land, sea and air, junketing around the globe.
To You be the all honour and all the glory. Amen.
By Nkrabeah Effah Dartey