OLD ENOUGH TO DIE?

Incidentally, the oldest person that ever lived, according to GRG records, was another female. Jeanne-Louise Calment was aged 122 when she passed on in August 1997 in Arles, France. This is not surprising because the top ten persons on the longevity table are all women, while the oldest man alive, Walter Breuning who will be 113 tomorrow (September 21) is number 15. In fact, of the 72 persons confirmed aged 110 and above, only four are males. This raises the question: Will a man ever be confirmed the oldest person on earth? Well, current statistics suggest that this is unlikely in the nearest future. But check out the man, Otis Clark.

Dr Mrs Joe Okei-Odumakin, president, Campaign for Democracy (CD), does not need any introduction. She’s the First Lady of Civil Society in Nigeria. No less a person than Professor Wole Soyinka once described her as "a tireless fighter whose frail bearing belies an inner strength and resilience of purpose…an inspiration to men and women, old and young." Among this Amazon of democratic struggle’s many attributes is her “straight-from-the-hip” rhetoric. This was demonstrated amply in the days since the departure of the late legal icon, Gani Fawehinmi. At one of the many events preceding Gani’s burial, she said of his adversaries: they shall “die unsung”. The teeming crowd of the masses at the event must have responded with a deafening chorus of “Amen!”

But it is a phrase in her tribute on behalf of CD that indirectly triggered this piece. In a brief moving oration in which she noted that “the last 11 days have witnessed a festival of grief that has not been witnessed in recent years even for a departed Head of State”, she said among other things: “The oppressed people whose cause Gani fought for years have been thrown into the deepest mourning, not because Gani was too young to die (emphasis added) but because in him they have lost a worthy friend, a trusted defender and a selfless advocate who sacrificed all for their sake.”

That got me thinking. Was Gani, at about 71, old enough to die? When is a man too young to die or old enough to die? Let me state from the onset that my interest in the subject has nothing to do with me, as a person. By the time this is published, I shall have been three days into my 62nd year and if the Lord tarries, I have no doubts that I shall be around for a long while yet. How do I know that? My Bible assures me that with long life will God satisfy me and I am not anywhere near “long life” yet. Which brings us back to the issue: when is a person old enough to die or, to relate it to the word of God, what is long life?

The Gerontology Research Group seems to consider people below 110 as not yet there! They classify this group of people as super-centenarians and they are given close attention, not just with an eye on the statistics, but more importantly as some kind of guinea pigs in the study of longevity- promoting lifestyles. That explains why in announcing the death on September 11 of the former world’s oldest person, Mrs Gertrude Baines at over 115years, the world was regaled with tales of her love for crispy bacon and fried chicken and disdain for drinking, smoking and fooling around. Her doctor, Dr. Charles Witt was quoted as telling Associated Press: "I saw her two days ago, and she was just doing fine…she was in excellent shape. She was mentally alert. She smiled frequently."

Baines, who became the world's oldest person in January when erstwhile title holder, Maria de Jesus died in Portugal at the same age of 115, however never did attribute her longevity solely to her lifestyle preferring to give the credit to God. She has since been succeeded by Japanese, Kama Chinen whose birthday is recorded as May 10, 1895 and is therefore 114.

Incidentally, the oldest person that ever lived, according to GRG records, was another female. Jeanne-Louise Calment was aged 122 when she passed on in August 1997 in Arles, France. This is not surprising because the top ten persons on the longevity table are all women, while the oldest man alive, Walter Breuning who will be 113 tomorrow (September 21) is number 15. In fact, of the 72 persons confirmed aged 110 and above, only four are males. This raises the question: Will a man ever be confirmed the oldest person on earth? Well, current statistics suggest that this is unlikely in the nearest future. But check out the man, Otis Clark.

Otis, an evangelist, was born on February 13, 1903, in Oklahoma, USA, which means that he’s already about five months shy of his 107th birthday, which in turn means he’s a mere three years to the super-centenarian club. But it is not just Otis’ age; it’s his state that marks him out. He caused a stir when he showed up at the Fort Worth Convention Centre in Texas, USA for the South West Believers’, hosted annually by Kenneth Copeland Ministries on August 5, 2009. Brother Copeland, a man not given to frivolities, interrupted what he was doing to acknowledge him. He had been warmly introduced to the crowd at the 2008 edition.

Evangelist Clark, who participated in the Azusa Street Mission, which was started by William J. Seymour in 1906, still lives independently and has his own car. He is not on any form of medication and has all but one of his teeth intact. He was quoted as saying that the dentist who pulled the missing tooth did not know what he was doing! He does not wear glasses except for reading purposes and he is not on any special diet; he eats anything and everything put before him. He recently told the Believers Voice of Victory magazine: “I enjoy cooking my own breakfast of steak and eggs or bacon and eggs. I like to make a pot of beef stew with garlic cloves, tomatoes and potatoes…I work in the yard and exercise in the pool. I take walks and always stop to smell the flowers. The doctor says I have the heart of a 35-year-old man. I can still thread a needle and mend my own clothes.”

Asked what the single most important step toward long life is, the world’s oldest travelling evangelist who was in Zimbabwe in 2006 and 2007 where he ministered at several meetings said: “Getting on God’s side! If you’re going to live long, get on God’s side and stay there. No matter how many times you mess up, repent and stay on the winning side.”

So, when is a person old enough to die? I believe the answer is: we are never old enough to die; we are ready when we have finished your God-given assignments. David Livingstone, the explorer, was famously quoted as saying: “I am immortal till my work is accomplished…” He was right and still is.