Weeks ago I woke up to read that Ali Eskandarian, an Iranian-American musician and author, who was a friend of some of my friends had been shot dead by a band member they had ousted because he was stealing from them. In the wee hours of one morning, the band-member who was asked to leave (Ali Rafie) chose to seek his vengeance by taking the lives of those whom he had no right to hurt. If that was not heart-wrenching enough for everybody, Ali’s mother and father extended their condolence to the family of the other deceased band members and in a turn of courageous faith posted what follows on Ali’s fan page on Facebook:
To the parents of Soroush and Arash Farazmand, we are Ali Eskandarian’s parents and want to extend our condolences to you. To the parents of Ali Akbar Mohammadi Rafie, we share the same grief. May all of our sons rest in peace and may you be at ease. To Ali Rafie, from the bottom of our hearts, we forgive you.
While the rude awakening of Ali’s untimely death was merely beginning to sink in, one awoke once again to hear of the devastating death of actor Paul Walker in a car crash that hit a light pole and then a tree and went up in flames. What’s distressing is that he was on the way to an event organised by his charity Reach Out Worldwide. What’s even more distressing is that Walker wasn’t even driving like some creative folks do, more often than not, under the influence of alcohol or drugs. I haven’t seen any movies of Walker, and I am not one to follow columns therefore I had no clue who he actually was, yet what saddened me is the look in his eyes when I became known of his death. The look that clearly indicated that he was a humble man with a good heart.
I have always nurtured this notion that we deserve what we get, but death, that’s harsh, don’t you think? Wonder what the giver of life designs and why. Doesn’t the almighty comprehend that taking away the lives of those who could make a difference to the world by their craft is such a loss to mankind? Such people, coming from the vantage positions that they are in could help the world by being who they are. For a moment one could philosophically debate that indeed death begins with life’s first breath, and life begins at the moment of death, but unfortunately all of that sounds fancy in philosophy. In reality, I am led to wonder what the one who gives us life is trying to tell us? It is a given that we ought to live each moment as if it were our last, and as cliché as it sounds this is becoming a drear reality that we simply cannot afford to ignore in our daily lives. While some might find it disheartening and end up questioning the very fact of existence, I think we must take what is happening positively and thank our kismet that we are getting to live another day to do what best we can do in order to be good, do good.
It is indeed a jolt that the family members of Ali or Paul or the countless others who lose their lives will never overcome. They may come to terms with it in time, but the pain will remain raw. We can only hope their faith gives them the strength to deal with the sudden shock of such tragedies.
I happened to read something that an actor friend had inscribed as his status message couple of weeks ago. It said: Every year you pass your birthday and know that you were born on that day, but every year you pass your death day and have no clue.