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Emotional pain can be an incurable human condition, especially if it is tied to an object of great value. For every heart that remains in great pain over some actions or inactions of the late Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, I deeply regret that you have had such experiences. But I understand how you feel.
If I can’t understand, I can at least imagine it because I once suffered a tragic loss. My father was murdered. I was only six when he was murdered in cold blood. Since then, his killer has been an image I hated. I think of many ways my life would have been better if my dad was alive and he was even more enraged. I’ve always kept my distance from all the “relatives” of my dad’s killer and I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to stop myself.
To clarify this, my name is Ebenezer Quist Agbey Yaw (EQAY). My father, Geoffrey Quist, was killed by the agent of death called diabetes. I had and still have an extraordinary mother, but the emptiness of not having a father figure in my life has had its negative repercussions on me. All my life, I have considered many who cause diabetes as an enemy. It still angers me that this disease has denied me an invaluable bond for most of my life.
If our previous president was somehow a reason why some form of eternal void was created in his life, I can imagine what he has felt and still feels. I can think of what life has been like for you listening to the voice of the former president constantly on the radio waves. I can visualize that you wish I would go through excruciating pain for revenge. I can also see why you may have some kind of relief to hear that Papa J has taken his last breath. It is understandable that your feelings are not out of place.
As depressing as these imaginations are to me, from one point of view, I think your case is better than mine. Unlike you, I have never heard the voice of diabetes. He never explained it to me. I just wanted to know ‘why?’ or what I did to deserve my great loss. There has been nothing.
I could never process diabetes. I could never see any bright side of that. I could never benefit from any legacy left by this deadly disease. He took my father away and that was simply the end of the story.
Today I am here as a painter. I know your pain marks can be indelible. However, I sincerely hope that by the time you finish reading the following points, you will have managed to cover the old pain paintings with bright, colorful gratitude paintings.
A standard of bloodshed
From the day Ghana was able to overthrow British rule, a precedent was set that whoever had the will enough could topple a government they loathed. It’s no wonder that Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, a man whose vision and legacies still make life work in Ghana, had to flee his homeland and be forced to die prematurely.
The ideology of the forcible seizure of power had gradually become the norm, and consequently, spontaneous bloodshed ensued. In some African countries, this rule still exists (they never had a Rawlings). If Ghana was ever to emerge from that bloody regime into a stable fourth republic where power would be peacefully surrendered without the land tasting a drop of blood, it had to be a hard-hearted warrior. He needed someone strong enough to take over the cloak bloody and soft enough to gently hand it over to another.
That transition was a feat that was inevitably going to step on a lot of fingers and shed blood in the process. Rawlings, recalling this, said in his last extensive interview with Kwaku Sakyi Addo on Asaase Radio:
“The search for blood was so strong that if we didn’t spill it, we would be gone.”
Despite this, no man has the right to plan another man’s disappearance. It is not justifiable, no matter which way you look at it.
However, it can be understood that if there were no Rawlings leading Ghana to democracy against many adversities, the most likely result would have been continued human bloodshed every time power exchanged hands, probably to this day.
If you endured some pain as the hostile reorganization progressed, remember that you are a hero and a living legend. See all your sufferings as the sacrifice that had to be necessary for Ghana to achieve a stable peace. That’s what it was. Ghana’s political future could have been bleak without you.
Ghana should be grateful for taking up the dying cross to save posterity. Along the same lines, let’s swallow the hard pill of gratitude that the flight lieutenant led a movement that ultimately saved Ghana’s posterity from perpetual war and destruction.
A universal charger
At 73 years old, Rawlings has shown us all that he was capable of putting on different faces. He could (indirectly) descend the gutter with the powerless and also ascend to the high table with the powerful. He could punch holes in the head with rifles, but he could also punch holes in dimpled chicks. Yet in all of this, Jerry’s motivation has been unshakable for the most part – he loved his country and was willing to do anything for it.
Legendary boxer Azumah Nelson, in an interview on Citi TV’s FacetoFace, recalled that JJ used to personally sweep and clean his training room, just so the boxers would have enough rest and time to fight and advance the Ghana name. Rawlings loved his country and was willing to do anything for it.
As a ‘universal charger’, she had no trouble taking on whatever face she needed to power any agenda. However, as a human being, this was never going to be without flaws. The late Jerry, even with his burning passion for Ghana, would surely have made some bad decisions.
However, if Sergey Nechayev, the statement of a 19th century Russian revolutionary that “The end justifies the means” it’s something to go through, so let’s be thankful for the end result Rawlings’ efforts yielded for Ghana. This is understandably difficult if you were the recipient of many bitter lashes, difficult but possible. An attitude of gratitude will lift the remnants of pain from your heart and ultimately serve Ghana better.
At the end of the day, we are all one people. Our hands and hearts must now join in love as we strive together to create a brighter future for our homeland.
Saving the roots
In the heat of cruel coups and unkind clean-up exercises, our former president led a movement that undoubtedly claimed lives and punished many. Some were breadwinners. Others were heroes of the community. This ultimately caused agony for many people.
I have never witnessed a coup but from the books I have read and the movies I have seen, the usual order in clearing the way to power is to remove all trees along with their roots.
If a head of the family is taken, the wife and children must be too, lest they become hardened and wreak havoc in the future.
However, in the case of the acquisitions of our brave lieutenant, a boundary was drawn between a man and his wife and children.
A tree can be felled, but the roots are given compassion.
At the height of the brutality that forced Ghana out of revolution to democracy, respect for human life was not completely abandoned.
Today, gracefully, live many descendants of men whose lives ended sadly for one reason or another.
In a moment of deep loss, it is human to cry, curse, and take revenge. Losing my father to diabetes taught me this.
Be that as it may, if we look at what we still have, what we were privileged to keep, the worst situations that could have been, and the greatest good that was done, gratitude spontaneously fills the heart.
This is what I ask of you all. You may have suffered an unnecessary, severe, and horrendous stinger. Anyway, let’s find a reason to be thankful.
Life should have been better, but it could easily have been worse without the passion for the country, the love for humanity, the care for posterity, and the vision of prosperity with which Jerry made his relentless deals.
So I ask you to be grateful. You have already endured a lot for the sake of Ghana. I trust you will do this too. Thanks, hero!
Written by Ebenezer Agbey Quist
Author of Reformed or Deformed and Greetings and Tears from Extracurricular Life
Email: [email protected]
