You Don't Know What You Have Until It's Gone!!

Uncle Piet: Archbishop Pietro Sambi

Sometimes I tend to think that Johns Hopkins hospital in Baltimore, Maryland – USA must be one of the luckiest hospitals on earth to have seen Uncle Piet go to rest! Up until that day I never thought Uncle Piet would die because he was too good for his own good! Grounded or rather down to the ground he had been all his life! We used to call him The Mountain, oh God; he hated that nickname very much. Uncle Piet was the only good person I knew! We all grew up to be just like him, even though at times I hated him just as much! 

Oh yes, I was surprised to hear people saying nice things about him when he died, all right! But some of those things they said about him were false because Uncle Piet was not nice! He was a good man but definitely not nice! Uncle Piet never took crap from anybody. He liked saying that apparently being a Christian didn't mean one had to be stupid! And indeed to him; life was like ending any time soon, therefore, there was no time for errors! You had to do everything perfectly well, all the time or else you would have him straight in your face! Uncle Piet was like Jesus Christ, he wasn't kind to fools; he never took jokes either!

But he had his moments when things were right, there you would see him laughing and cracking little jokes even! He had such a beautiful smile whenever things were right. Hence to keep him happy and smiling, we had to work hard all the time! Oh yes, Uncle Piet was the kindest person I knew. Unfortunately he could change any minute if one tried to take him for a ride! 

And of course, I wouldn't talk about his persona because he was the greatest friend one could have! Apart from hardworking like a slave, he was faithful and highly neat and tidy all the time! And he never took pleasure in little talks. His motto was that you had to shut up if you didn't have something worth mentioning. 

I miss him very much! Not only was he a great Uncle but such a good friend of mine. But now he’s gone... I try very hard to get over him but I can’t because he lives in me! I still hear his voice. I see him in good people around me. Fortunately he had trained me very well to be free of anybody! Thanks to him, I've a brick in my chest instead of a human heart. But I am also kind just like him!

Nonetheless, even though I am deeply hurt by his untimely passing, deep down I am thankful to God for having blessed the world with his life. Hence I pray that God would continue blessing Uncle Piet’s immediate family, friends, and colleagues. And that God would forever rest his soul and the souls of the faithful departed...

(Joseph Sambi)