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Contemporary singer Keisha, in her song entitled “Die Young”, sang about young people who die young. She sang “we wanna die young” in reference to young people’s inclination to party, dance, debauchery, sex orgies and drug abuse.History is replete with geniuses that failed to reach grand old age. Jimmy Hendrix, a guitarist who strummed the instrument as if he was born to do it, did not live long. His story of a genius who never reached the zenith of his career is told over and over again to the starlets and those who are taking their baby steps in showbiz.
Martin Luther King Junior, a fiery orator and human rights defender in the USA, is best known for his ‘‘I have a dream . . . ’ speech whose powerful words rocked the foundation of the Jim Crow system in the South and the rest of the land of the free and the brave as it demystified the entrenched racist values that have been the benchmarks of all the laws passed since the onset of the diabolic slave trade. Throughout the United States, Dr King moved from state to state denouncing racism and spreading the ideals of equal rights. He had a cult following in the world of the people of colour and of course the so-called liberal whites. America had destroyed the humanity abundant in blacks as they found themselves looked upon as second class citizens in a land they had helped build to be the foremost nation in the world. Getting into a ‘‘blacks only’’ bus became second nature and the young and abrasive Martin Luther King urged the whites to respect his brother whom a white writer, Joseph Conrad, called his junior brother.
For that, King was shot dead. He died young.
Marilyn Munroe, the vivacious American actress, the movie idol and captivating beauty, had the world at her feet and is reputed to have dated top politicians and “stinking rich” men. She did not live to a good old age. We listen to the song ‘‘Norma Jean’’ sung by various singers oblivious of the fact that she was a beauty who failed to live to a ripe old age. Tragedy seems to be lurking behind the geniuses or beauties or anyone whose exploits awe many a people.
Reggae is synonymous with Robert Nester Marley, popularly known as “Bob Marley” and he inspired many revolutionary parties, ZANU-PF included. In fact, he penned a song “Zimbabwe” that he sang at Rufaro Stadium in 1980 in honour of our newly found status as an independent nation. He died of a cancer-related illness. He had not reached his 50th birthday. Another luminary had bitten the dust. Long after his death, we relish his content-laden songs. He died young.
Lucky Dube, the mercurial mbaqanga singer who started belting reggae tunes in the 1980s, had fans eating from his palms due to his reggae rhythms; he suffered a grisly death; some robbers ended his life cruelly while his daughters looked on. The world expected more reggae hits from him but it was a question of “God’s Case: No Appeal” and we buried another young artiste.
To be a British royal means a lot and your privacy is seldom respected. Because of that Princess Diana found her every move to be under the microscope. Tabloids like the now defunct News of the World owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch made a lot of money out of snooping into the goings-on of the British royal family. The estranged wife of the heir became game to the scandal-obsessed media. The paparazzi had a field day as it took pictures of her real or imagined boyfriends/lovers. As a result, in August 1997, in a high-speed chase between her and the tabloid guys, she crashed in France and died. Indeed, she ‘‘lived her life like a candle in the wind’’ just like Marilyn Munroe. She was not even 40. She died young. Steve Biko, the South African black consciousness exponent, died in prison after his ideals and philosophies inspired a whole generation of South Africans who longed for a time when they would take care of business in the political, social and economic end of things. Although he died, the 1976 Soweto Uprisings showed the world that the white supremacists were prepared to use language to brainwash blacks. The students got inspiration from the young philosopher-cum-idealist.
Steve Biko did not live to see his dream of an independent South Africa come true. Persistent torture by the vicious regime took its toll and he died — young.
What is it with the geniuses, beauties, the rich and famous that makes them die young?
One of the greatest writers to emerge from Africa in the Post Modernist tradition, Dambudzo Marechera, a brilliant writer who seemed to live in the shadow of his writing, had natural writing brilliance that catapulted him to the top of the writing ladder with the result that he won the 1978 Guardian Prize in Fiction writing. Those who saw him in the 1980s wondered what happened as he appeared to be a tramp in the then Sunshine City. The world woke up to the news that he had breathed his last in 1987. His death at a tender age reminded people of Shakespeare in “Macbeth” who intimated that life is but a walking shadow. It is full of sound and fury but, tellingly, signifies nothing. Yet another genius had died young.
Tragedy stalks those who are revolutionary minded. Take the Border Gezi tragic end. Here was an exuberant young and brash commissar who desired to make the ruling party be the party of choice; out of the blue, he died in a car accident at the age of 36.
Dr Moses Mhute, a brilliant medical doctor who braved the economic upheavals of 2008 in Chipinge and rose to become the Chipinge District Medical Officer, died before reaching the age of 40. Many people called him the people’s doctor as he assisted everyone in the district anywhere that one met him. Notwithstanding the numerous offers to lure him into the diaspora for his personal satisfaction, he remained in the district of his birth. Despite his apparent genius, Moses was a man who never showed a condescending attitude to the rest of the holi-poloi or what Chinua Achebe called the efulefu.
Doctor Moses Mhute died young.
In South Africa, Chris Hani, the South Africa Communist Party chief, died from a racist bullet. He had a great future, but he died young, violently at that.
Many sons and daughters went to the war and some did not come back. Notably, their commanders died owing to the enemy machinations.
Alfred Mangena and Josiah Tongogara easily come to mind. They died young yet their military brilliance was there for all to see.
This past week saw the death of a prominent Chipinge magistrate, Makamera Waini, a young man who was scarcely 31 and a great future in the justice delivery system beckoned to him. A moment of bad decision and an errant driver made him lose his life. Such a young, young, young life has been taken away from us. Law is not a profession for the faint-hearted, but he discharged his duties like a veteran.
Geniuses tread the ground where even angels fear. Whenever adrenalin-inducing stunts face them, they are not afraid to plunge into a crocodile infested pool saying to themselves, somehow the crocodiles will never get to them.
They party as if there is no tomorrow; the Apostle Paul talked about people who urge each other to drink, eat and make merry as death is around the corner.
A lot of the young geniuses cannot withstand fame. They use drugs to put on a veneer of a life that many people envy. Thus, you hear of many of these musicians entering rehab if they are lucky and accept that they need help.
Some talented individuals engage in high-risk behaviour such as sex orgies; these may be detrimental to the person concerned as one may get infected. After such an incident, one may dedicate the whole of one’s life to revenge-misplaced revenge. These people have this I-don’t-care attitude that makes them not to fear death; they do things that some of us mere mortals will never attempt even in our wildest moments.
Perhaps, the secret lies in the genes; some people are just naturally prone to testing fate as one sees the Formula 1 drivers do it week-in week-out.
Makamera (31), who came from humble beginnings in the Gudo area in Masvingo, leaves a legacy of hard work and the ability to tackle legal issues with a sober mind. Why do we lose our brainy young men when they are still young?
That question has been asked time and again as a hero goes the way of our forefathers when she/he is still wet behind the ears. Such is life but we will never stop asking that question. Wise men in our dear country aptly put it thus: Pasi hariguti.
At one moment in time, each one of us would make way and join our ancestors. Perhaps, geniuses and other rich and famous ought to have mentors who guide them and ensure that they reach their full potential.
Online Reporter