GET INSPIRED : A name; the magic to living forever

An article in The Sunday Times about the famous Prayer Palace Pastor’s death confirms the questions, fears and emptiness among the human race on losing a fellow human being. The article highlights people’s doubts that God would take Kanyange’s life even after serving Him and converting many lives to Christ. Even the greatest are scared of death. There is this infamous story where a man who opted for suicide after realizing that all his life plans were at a stand still. With a rope in his hand, he strode to a forest in the neighborhood to make sure no one would interfere with his terrible plan of ending his life [by hanging]. Prior to his destination, he noticed a very big snake. The man forgot all about the hanging plan, he instead ran for dear life. “A snake almost took my life,” he screamed. Crowds who came to his rescue were treated to free drama when they learnt that the man was going to end his life though he didn’t let the snake help him! That’s how death is, it’s a paradox that no one will ever get used to it. All generations right from Adam and Eve our great ancestors, death is one thing that has kept the world guessing about why it happens and why God can never change that punishment to a fairer one. Though no human can ever do a thing to stop death, something can be done to keep the memory alive. Instead of moaning over death, let’s focus on building names that will live on. It’s often said that a good name is better than wealth. Indeed it is, especially when a person passes away. Unfortunately, people are so desperate to make lots of money and material wealth than making good names. Material wealth keeps us awake and restless though it never stays forever. In fact at death, everything is shared among people who never toiled for it. To the brilliant, even at the earliest age it’s building the name that they focus on. People die but a name never dies! And if your name is alive, the memory about you is alive and with the people you cherished most. Imagine your great grand children using your name as the golden key to everything because you worked hard for it! In all we do, we should picture that moment when we pass on. What will be there to be said on our last funeral? Will the entire world bless us or they will curse us and say good riddance? During the last funeral, many facts unveil. This is when people get to know truly if the deceased has lived real or plastic lives. This remains a challenge to all. “I am still battling with paying my dad’s debts, I only got to know at his burial,” says a sorrow stricken Godfrey Mwesigwa. Like others, his dad’s dirty secrets unveiled when he died. Mwesigwa got to know how people detested his dad.Meanwhile, if the old man knew how important a good name was, he would have saved his children all the trouble and hate. Meanwhile, there are great names that are always remembered. The secret of making a good name is dedicating one’s life to what they love most. It might be nature, family, politics or a talent. It’s not only the celebrities that die to be remembered, even the poorest man from the most remote area can keep his memory alive when he strives for what he loves. And as we yearn for our passion, we should know that good names never come on a silver platter. Lots of sacrifices have to be made. Let’s work towards being remembered for ever and leaving a legacy. People die, names never die. A good name also impacts positively. For instance a humble woman known as Tabitha is one bible figure who resurrected from death just because her neighbours complained to God about how sympathetic she was. She would make cloths for orphans and widows. Meanwhile, in Uganda, if you said you were Idi Amin’s descendant, your sympathy and humanity would be strongly questioned. Let’s live to leave clean and worthwhile names. Keeping a good name doesn’t refer to laziness. Some people will sit and do nothing all in the name of keeping a clean record. In this world, even a snail, regardless of how slow it is, leaves a mark wherever it passes. We should leave a positive mark wherever we go if we want to live forever. A good name can never be comparable to anything. lillianean@yahoo.com