#LessonsFromMyDad
My siblings & I had a dog once. His name was Benjy, a Jack Russell Terrier I think. I’m a black South African, I grew up in the 1980s and the only breeds we knew were the bulldog and a German Shepherd or “police dog” as it was known. Benjy joined our family in the late 1980s and unfortunately met his Maker in the winter of 1991 after a short illness. The loss was unbearable for all of us, it was very hard losing a member of the family. I remember my dad’s prayer at the funeral. Yes that’s how much we all loved that dog, we held a funeral. My dad described life as a Stage Play. He said, I paraphrase “Lights come on, the audience claps and the actor plays their role. Once their role is done, the actor runs or disappears backstage and that is the end.” 24 years later, those words I still carry with me every single day. I too have a role to play in life and had better make it memorable. My father, u Dukie; #TheDuke, Bra Max, Merican, uTata Bhobho, Principal u