Mr. Munyu was a short, quiet man who seemed to me to be always absent-minded. Whenever we met on the road-side and he happened to spot me, he would get jolted out of his absent-mindedness, smile, greet me and then lapse back into his absent-mindedness.
One thing I liked about Mr. Munyu was the way he loved cleanliness. He was always clad in suits and well-polished shoes. I remarked to him about his love for cleanliness two or three years ago, to which he replied in Kikuyu, "Yes, I love cleanliness. And I always ensure even the most hidden parts of my body are clean."
So if cleanliness is next to godliness as the cliché goes, then Mr. Munyu was a godly man - which makes me think he is now resting with the angels in heaven.
Mr. Munyu is now the fifth neighbour I have lost in the last two or three years. That has led me to think about death since we are all destined for the grave. And several authors have actually encouraged me in their books and speeches to think about death.
There is Rick Warren who in his internationally acclaimed book, The Purpose Driven Life, advises us to live with an eternal perspective because our time on Earth is ephemeral. I agree with that since we only live for seventy or so years which is short compared with the age of the Earth which scientists estimate to be 3.8 billion years old.
There is Stephen R. Covey who in his international best-seller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, encourages us to think about the kind of compliments we would love spoken of us during our funerals by our family, friends, relatives, work-mates and community members.
There is Steve Chandler who in his book, 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself, exhorts us to think of death as one of the ways of motivating ourselves to make the most of each day. He says living without thinking of death is detrimental to our lives much in the same way as playing a match as if it will never end.
There is Pepe Minambo who in his relatively small book, Be Inspired Before You Expire, beseeches us to live such a wonderful life that the organizers of our funerals shall have an easy time coming up with our eulogies.
Then there is Steve Jobs who in his famous 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University encouraged Stanford graduates to think about death regularly. He said:
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.It is such kind of thinking about death that drove Bill Clinton to accomplish much at a young age, for he says in his autobiography that his father's early death infused him with a sense of mortality that made him make the most of each day. If you didn't know, Bill Clinton was first elected governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas at the tender age of 31.
So I have also decided to be thinking about death as one of the ways of motivating myself. I will strive to be grateful for each day, greet it with a smile and spend it productively and enjoyably. And I will strive to leave a legacy of faith, hope and love by looking at the best in others even when they see the worst in me.
And when will I die? Well, I can die any time from now. But I am sanguine if I continue deepening my faith in God and working on my physical fitness while engaging at a labour of love, then I will clock 90 as a sprightly, grey-haired nonagenarian.
How about you? Ask yourself what difference you'd love to have made in the world by the time you die. And try to continually imagine the kind of words that will be spoken of you during your funeral. Adieu!
