Be Still and Know I Am God

Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

Is this not the verse that kept us strong during the war? Yes, be still. Before you fight back, be still and watch your enemy's moves.

When you survive and bodies are lying everywhere, be still among the dead. Do not move. Just watch the heavy boots as they stomp over the bodies.

Today, I am also saying Be Still. Listen to what they say. Watch their moves. Be Quiet. Let them talk. Then have the last say.

That is how politics is played. So as all these things start happening in my country – the country I died and killed for – I Am Still. I Am The Leader. I Will Be Exalted. I Will Overcome.

For that reason, I will just read what that silly editor boy writes. For that reason, I will follow behind those stupid professors. Stealthily. Quietly.

Even when I lie alone in the night, listening to my thoughts, I will be still. Nod along to the cicadas' songs once in a while. Feel age creeping on me from the edges of the darkness. Flow with the tide even.

What is the use of fighting life? There is no need because whatever you do, however you fight, life will defeat you.

I have not yet met a person who has defeated life. It gets us in the end. We may run. Jump. Hide. Do anything. Everything. But in the end, life reaches out to us. For us. Pulls us down. And shoves us deep in the earth. Six feet under.

And that is every man's fear. The day life says to him: Dude, I have come for you. Follow me.

At that hour, we all lie still. No complaints. No tears. But resignation. We leave everything behind.

But some of us, this has come and possibly gone. Living death is worse than the act of dying. Taking away a life is also worse than being taken away.

Long after the person whose life you take away has gone quiet, still, you will hear the pleas for mercy. The gurgling sounds when life is forced to leave the body. Then the eyes stare at you, meaningless. Vacant. Emotionless.

Long after those eyes have been eaten by worms, they will stare at you during the night. The pleas for mercy will disrupt your sleep.

With time, you learn to live with death. You become still. Dead. Cadaverous. It is the reason why the living cannot understand you. Why relationships die like your heart. Your children become afraid of you.

But Be Still.