The Psychological Shortcomings Of Death (Essay Sample)

The Psychological Shortcomings Of Death
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Introduction
In this paper, I am going to introduce you to my close relative, a cousin from my father’s side, Melinda. My first impression of her was how confident she was, even after the loss of his mother. She was a smiling machine from afar, with the zeal of an iron lady. We all loved her and always thought the best of her. Not only did she carry our town’s name but we all dreamt for the day she would represent the country. Our prayers were answered when she passed her O levels with flying colors. She had emerged among the top hundred top scorers in the country. We were all sure she would be traveling abroad for further studies but no one had the vaguest idea of what would happen to her abroad.
Melinda had received a partial tuition scholarship to go study in Turkey. The family members came together and we all did contributions to support her dreams. In a matter of time, she was going to be a doctor and everyone wanted to be a part of her success story. Her father was a proud man. He looked at her with such pride and wished the mother was still alive to see her daughter fight against all odds to win this coveted opportunity.
Melinda’s father was a postman. Most of the land he inherited from his parents had been used to pay for Melinda’s diabetic mother’s hospital bills and the numerous insulin injections. When she succumbed to the gory disease, the family was left deep in debt. However, this did not stop Melinda from achieving her dreams. Funds were collected, the necessary documents were gathered and advice was given, the little anyone could think to give. ‘Our girl would make us proud’ was all everyone was thinking about at the farewell party. Lots of happy and sad tears were shed, followed by lots of prayers for the almighty to protect her from all evil lying out there.
Off she went, into the land of the unknown. Her sole mission was to quench her thirst for seducation. From time to time, Melinda would send home mails. We all looked forward to these letters for they were our only peephole for confirming she was still alive and kicking. She could not make it to travel back to the country since the air ticket was really expensive. Back home we all assumed all is well. She sent us photos, Istanbul landmarks, and snow in the background, considering it was our first time seeing such since our country is in the tropics, we were awed. Wow, she had made it. We wanted to see more and we always waited for her mails with much zeal. However, the mails trailed slowly, and then abruptly there was no new mail from Melinda. And slowly the memories we had of her too started fading. Soon after that, we forgot about her and life moved on as normal.
During my holidays I joined my father in our local pub establishment to run the family business. It had been four years since the departure of our dear Melinda. His father was way past his prime of being a mailman but he insisted on working since he wanted to be the first to sort the mails. This was to ensure his daughter’s letters did not go missing. We all knew the anxiety was slowly killing the old man. He was slowly falling into depression but no one had the guts to point this out. However, I never saw him walk into the pub. On days he wanted to meet my father or me, he would signal for us through the glass screen. My father would once in a while urge him to take some for the road to calm his nerves but the old man would politely turn down the offer. He always told us he knew his problems and they were not in the bottle. These were his words till the day he succumbed to Pneumonia, a disease easily treated with modern medicine, in the absence of his daughter-a doctor to be.
The burial was done on a gloomy Friday afternoon. The old postman was laid to rest next to his dear wife. The grape yard had it the daughter was back but no one had set eyes on her. To us, it was more of a rumor. I wish I had plans to go straight home but the covid lockdown was raised and schools were soon opening so I went to get the extra pocket money back at the bar. My first customer was neither a regular nor did her accent sound from around. She called me on a first-name basis. I still could not figure out whom she was considering she had on some huge dark-colored sunglasses and a long black trench coat. I assumed she was from the burial since it was the only new event in town. I started some small talk as I took her order. She stopped me and asked whether I could remember whilst removing her sunglasses. Our dear Melinda was back. A tear rolled down my eyes.
Without the glasses, she did not seem okay. Her eyes were sunken deep like those of a drug addict. She had a gothic look just without the black Halloween makeup on. someone could say she was a natural. The stories she told me after she got on drinking were even sadder. “From the inception of my college days, all pointed to a troubled end.” She told me.
She narrated how on arrival to Turkey the culture shock affected her which destabilized her already fragile new orphan status. She never felt as if she belonged. The prejudice she experienced as a colored girl on foreign soil made it hard for her to adapt to her new way of life. Her self-esteem was destroyed and she began feeling like a fraud and started to miss her mother. Her self-identity was completely wiped clean. All the beliefs she had grown were tarnished and she started experiencing role confusion. She tried putting more time into her studies but she just never saw the point of it all. She needed friends or at least someone to talk to. Well, that’s how she met a guy called Kevin.
Kevin was from South Africa. His father was the minister for industrialization. He had a soft life upbringing which ended up spoiling him. From the first day of arrival, Kev had a thing for parties and the sweet life Istanbul could give. His GPA dwindled and his father was notified by the school administration. He threatened to withdraw from the plush life if he would not pull up his socks and raise his grades. That was how they met. Kev and Melinda became the living embodiment of Romeo and Juliet.
Before they met Kev had already sunk into substance abuse though he kept it as a secret from Melinda. But soon it became quite apparent and slowly he introduced her to heroin after she opened up about her traumas. All the drugs money could buy he got it for her. What began as weekend parties slowly crept into the weekdays and they would be too high to make it to class.
Not long after both were expelled from the school. Kev returned to his country and did not want anything to do with Melinda. She said this while crying. Her Kev told her she reminded him of all