The Fragility of Life

I heard of the tragic event that happened on the Kumasi-Accra highway, and gosh! Imagine your child of about 16 years going for a church program in a different region only to return lifeless. Sad is truly an understatement. This is probably one of the most overwhelming pieces of news I’ve heard in a long time. And it was very hard for me to digest because it was more like a catastrophe happening to a whole community.

According to the news I heard, a fuel tanker crashed into a bus carrying 16 youth (from the ages of 16 to 25), and none survived. Yes, you read right. Not even one of these kids survived. Now you get why I’m overwhelmed?

The moment I heard the news, I didn’t know exactly what to think and who to blame. In fact, I heard people talking about how bad the roads from Kumasi to Accra are and how the government should do something about it. Others were also insulting the drivers involved without even knowing what exactly happened. I even heard one radio station saying there was a brake failure in one of the vehicles, which I know isn’t true because of the information brought out by the church involved.

But in all those things, I realized there was no point blaming anyone because the harm had already been done. No matter what anyone would say, they would turn back time to prevent the accident from happening. No blame whatsoever would bring back any of those kids.

I thought about a lot of things, but the one that kept making me sad was the parents of these kids. I was telling my mom that she should imagine one of the kid’s parents telling him/her not to go and then she throwing tantrums and still going. That would hurt so much and would even affect his siblings because they won’t be allowed to go anywhere again.

There was a mass burial for the 16 deceased people, and the video I saw was very hard to watch. They buried all 16 coffins together as a sign of togetherness or something. I don’t really remember. It felt like each household lost a child and the whole community was mourning.

The final thought that came to mind was how truly life is shorter than we even think. Someone could be here today and tomorrow; they would just be gone. Just like that. No goodbyes or anything. Anytime I talk about this topic, I get sensitive because of how I lost my own sister. I always regret taking all the moments I could have spent with her for granted.

I can’t even imagine the dreams these kids had but couldn’t even get the opportunity to chase. Let’s appreciate the life we have and make sure to live to the fullest in peace.